sinfulness

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Friday, 14 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 129 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 4c-6, 7-8

Out of the depths I cry to You, o Lord, o Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears pay attention to the voice of my supplication.

If You should mark our evil, o Lord, who could stand? But with You is forgiveness, and for that You are revered.

I waited for the Lord, my soul waits, and I put my hope in His word. My soul expects the Lord more than watchmen the dawn.

O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with Him is unfailing love and with Him full deliverance. He will deliver Israel from all its sins.

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Wednesday, 12 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 12-13, 18-19

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart You will not despise.

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Wednesday, 12 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jonah 3 : 1-10

The word of YHVH came to Jonah a second time : “Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”

In obedience to the word of YHVH, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jonah walked a single day’s journey and began proclaiming, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”

The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.

He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh : “By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. But let the people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from His fierce anger and spare us.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened upon them.

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Tuesday, 11 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 6 : 7-15

When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do, for they believe that the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.

This, then, is how you should pray :

Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name,

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, just as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.

Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one.

If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either.

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Monday, 10 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Today’s readings are a premonition of what is to come, and which will come to all of us without exception. Yes, all of us will be judged, and there is only one judge who will decide our fate, which will last for eternity. That judge is our Lord and God Himself, Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the very role that He will take up in the future. He will judge all mankind and separate the good from the bad, the faithful and the rebellious ones.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is this judgment that determines our fate for all eternity, and once the decision is settled, and the hammer is down, our fate is sealed. It is either that we walk the path of righteousness and doing God’s will which will earn us a place among the sheep, on the right hand side of our Judge and therefore receive the gift of everlasting blessing and grace, to live forever in joy and perfect love.

Or we can choose to side with the devil, and walk the path of wickedness, either by committing acts that are wicked and deplorable in the eyes of the Lord, or by ignoring His laws and commandments, and by remaining idle when we are in full capacity and capability to do something in accordance with the will of God.

Yes, if we do these, then we will be on the left hand side, the goats, that is those who are rejected by the Lord, and those whom are judged unworthy by God to share the eternal blessing and grace He had allocated to those who remain faithful to Him. This leads to eternal damnation and suffering, that is total separation from the love of God, and in that state of nothingness and without hope, we suffer grievously.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, there are two kinds of sins that we have to really pay attention to. The first is what is often called the sin of action, the kind of sin that we are most familiar with. Essentially these are the sins which in our first reading from the Book of Leviticus tried to address, as also stated in the Ten Commandments that we all certainly know very well by now.

Basically these are sins by our direct and conscious actions, with examples such as murder, stealing, lying, jealousy, and many others, which brought negative consequences to either ourselves, and more often than not, our brothers and sisters, our neighbours and our fellow man, or to God Himself. These are the sins most obvious to us, because indeed, our world today are full of it. Mankind nowadays are often embroiled in violence and hatred towards one another.

This we have to avoid, yes, and we have to make the effort to avoid at all cost from committing these sins, by fortifying ourselves that we may not be easily tempted to commit these acts for whatever reasons, some of which bring certain advantages to us. But we must not forget that there is another kind of sin that we should not forget.

That kind of sin is the sin of omission, that is failure to do what is expected from us, the failure to do good deeds according to the Lord and His will. This is what Jesus mentioned as the Judge telling off those on His left, that they had ignored and cared not for the plight of those less fortunate in their life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to avoid committing these two kinds of sins. How best to do so? By strengthening our faith and defense against evil through a good and healthy prayer life that we may always be strong in our faith and not easily fall to the temptation to commit the sins of action. And whenever we have the opportunity to do good deeds, do not squander them. Be aware of the plight of others in need for our love. Give them our attention and be not afraid in doing so, even if others disapprove of our actions.

May we all not be found among those whom the Lord will reject on the Day of Judgment, and that all of us may strive to be always righteous and worthy of our Lord. May the Lord be with us always and bless us, that we may go through this life filled with goodness and be proactive in our faith. Amen.

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Sunday, 9 March 2014 : 1st Sunday of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 5-6a, 12-13, 14 and 17

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind. Against You alone have I sinned.

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise.

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Saturday, 8 March 2014 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the Gospel, about the calling of Levi the tax collector by Jesus. Levi was called, and he heeded the call. He became one of the Twelve Apostles, and later was known as St. Matthew the Apostle, one of the Four Evangelists, the writer of the Four Holy Gospels.

Levi showed us that the Lord did not condemn sinners but sin. He did not condemn His own people when they made the mistake, if they do not persist in their sinfulness and in their erroneous ways. He will come to them, seeking them, and calling them to repent from their ways, and to turn back towards the Lord as He had done to Levi.

And another lesson that we ought to learn is that we have hope, brethren! In Jesus we have hope, because He had come to seek those who had been lost to the darkness. We who have wandered into the darkness Christ will bring once again into the light. And if we follow Him, we will surely receive the reward which He had promised to be ours.

Brothers and sisters, it is also important to note that we must never condemn anyone, nor should we have any prejudice or be judgmental upon others. If we do so, then we are doing precisely what the Pharisees and the elders of the Jews had done. They looked down on the tax collectors and the other people whom they called and considered as ‘sinners’.

Yes, they considered themselves pious, obedient and righteous, because they have followed strictly the rigorous requirements of the Mosaic law, whom they over the generations as the leaders of the people had expanded, and which they, in their arrogance and hubris, thought of themselves as better than those who had not done what they did.

Yet they forget that they themselves had flaw in them. Yes, sinners themselves! Everyone who was descended from Adam and Eve the first mankind had sinned, and we are all sinners. Yet it was Jesus our Lord who came to us in order to deliver us from the consequence of sin that is death. Jesus came to bring new hope and light to those who had been trapped in the darkness of sin.

The Pharisees had no right to label and condemn the tax collectors as sinners because they themselves were sinners and were in need of salvation themselves. Yet again you can contrast how the supposed ‘sinners’, the tax collectors reacted to Jesus as compared to the ‘pious’ Pharisees and the elders. The tax collectors welcomed Jesus and Levi followed Him, leaving everything he had. Meanwhile, the Pharisees rejected Jesus and fought against Him and plotted against Him wherever He went to.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, from this example, are we able now to understand what it means to be a disciple of the Lord? Are we all now aware of the love our Lord has for all of us. Shall we repent and change our ways, professing our faith and love for Him?

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. John of God, a Portuguese priest and holy man of the faith. St. John of God was known to be a great worker of mercy and compassion especially those who were suffering in poverty and sickness. St. John of God established an order of brethren dedicated to the service of the stricken and the downtrodden.

But in all of his great accomplishment and great holiness, we may often forget that St. John of God was once an orphan and someone who did not have a clear purpose in life. And yet St. John of God met a life changing experience in his life, not quite unlike what had happened to Levi, who was called from the darkness into the light. Like Levi, St. John of God was called because the Lord had clear intention in mind for him.

Can we also be like St. John of God? Of course we can! It is up to us now, whether we are to take up the Lord’s offer and heed His call. We can choose to be either like the Pharisees or to be like Levi. We can choose between accepting the Lord’s call or refusing to acknowledge Him when He calls. It is entirely within our choice, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Therefore, let us make our choice now, to dedicate ourselves to the Lord from now on, and become His tool for change, for the betterment of ourselves and for the sake of our fellow brothers and sisters. May the Lord continue to love us, bless us, and strengthen us in our faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 7 March 2014 : Friday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 5-6a, 18-19

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind. Against you alone have I sinned.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart You will not despise.

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Thursday, 6 March 2014 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, carrying one’s cross is the thing which most of us did not want to do, and we refused to do so even after the Lord made it clear what He wanted from us. We prefer to enjoy the pleasures of this world rather than following the Lord, and we prefer the ways of Satan to the way of Christ.

The path of the Lord is not an easy one, and there will be lots of suffering and challenges, as Satan owns this world, and he works his plots and attacks against God and His people through that same world, the one where we are living at the moment. But even though the path of the Lord is not an easy one, at the end of the way is happiness and blessing, such as what God had promised His people in the first reading today, if they kept His commandments and walked in His ways.

On the other hand, the path of Satan appears to be an easier and a much better one, because it seems that this path has much fewer obstacles and challenges facing us, as compared to that of the path of the Lord. But the pleasures and happiness with which the devil had spiced up his path are not true happiness and joy. These are illusions and attempts to replicate true happiness that exists only in God.

And brethren, you all know what awaits at the end of the path of Satan, that is death, and not just the kind of death that we know of, but eternal death. That is because the Lord, as He also said to the people in the first reading, will withdraw His blessing and instead His curse will hang over the people should they fail to follow His commandments and disobeyed His will.

If we choose to follow the path of evil, and choose the apparently easier path, then we are dooming ourselves. That is because in doing so, we reject the Lord and His love, rejecting the blessing of eternal life which He had promised for all those who remain faithful to Him and those who dedicate themselves to Him. We certainly do not want ourselves to end up this way, do we not?

Perseverance is the key, brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are to receive the blessings of Almighty God, then we ought to persevere in our faith. We cannot take our faith for granted, and neither should we take for granted the salvation which God had promised us all who believe in Him. Our faith must be living and genuine, and we must keep in mind always, that our faith must indeed be like carrying the cross, our own crosses, imitating what Jesus had done as He went on His Passion to save us.

Yes, brethren, if we want to follow the Lord and walk in His ways, then we should be ready to bear the burden of being His faithful ones. There will be opposition and even mockery, and there will be those who will look down on us because of our choice. But if we are to persevere and keep strong our faith, then we will persevere. Shall we choose the easy way out, a good life in this world, and yet in the end, be thrown into eternal suffering?

It is not wrong, brothers and sisters, to enjoy our life in this world, but it also means that we cannot just enjoy and do nothing else. We cannot just enjoy the pleasures and happiness of this world, without doing anything in accordance to the will of God. In fact, the more we immerse ourselves in the joy of this world, the less likely we are to act in the way that is pleasing to God. We have to be always mindful of this and keep a steady balance in our life.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is imperative for us to carry our cross, not literally or figuratively, but to do what is right and what is according to the will of God, that we may endure together as one, the suffering of Christ, and therefore understand the love that God had for us all, so much that He gave us Himself and His own life, that we all may live.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this Lenten season, let us maximise the time and opportunity that we have, so that we may seek to devote ourselves more and more to the Lord, and if necessary, changing our ways that we may once again walk in the way of the Lord, and no longer following the devil into his rebellion. May God our Lord and our loving Father continue to bless us, watch over us, and protect us as we walk with Jesus His Son, towards our salvation and eternal glory. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 March 2014 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the one who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the law of the Lord and meditates day and night on His commandments,

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.