Society of Jesus

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Thursday, 31 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen from this world to be His own beloved and holy people, we have been gathered to become this one flock of the Lord’s faithful, to share together His blessings and graces, to enjoy His love and kindness, all that He has assured and given to us. At the same time we are also reminded that if we do not belong to Him and are apart from Him, we shall be judged and condemned to an eternity in darkness and destruction. Hence, this is why it is important that we should always strive to live our lives worthily and commit ourselves to the Lord in each and every moments of our lives.

In our first reading today, taken from the last chapter of the Book of Exodus, we heard of the moment when the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered together during the time of their journey from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan, at the moment after the Holy Tent of Meeting, or the Tent of God’s Presence had been completed according to the instructions that the Lord had given to them through Moses. At that time, the Lord has been guiding the people day and night on the journey through the desert, but the journey of the Israelites had faced a detour due to their own lack of faith as they doubted the Lord and refused to believe in Him when He led them to the land of Promise, allowing their fears and uncertainties to overcome them and to make them reject God’s assurance and plans for them.

That was why they were forced to wander in the desert for forty years long to atone for their sins. And yet, the Lord still cared for His people and remained with them, no matter what, as He continued to show His Presence among them, by descending upon them at the Holy Tent, the Holy Tent of God’s Presence, enthroned among the Cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant. This was the Holy of Holies within the Holy Tent of God, which would later be replicated when King Solomon built a great Temple for God in Jerusalem. This Holy of Holies is the epicentre and heart of God’s Holy Presence among His people, a tangible reminder of God Who has always been there for His beloved ones, those whom He had called and chosen. And today we are being reminded of this because all of us as Christians, we have been made God’s Holy Temple, the Temple of His Holy Presence.

Each and every one of us have received the Lord Himself in the Flesh, as we received from Him the ultimate gift of His love for us, the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist, His very own Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood that He has given to us. And because of this, God Himself has dwelled within us, and we have become parts and members of God’s one Church, His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And God made us all to be the ones in whom He dwelled, in our hearts and in our whole beings, that we are truly the Temple of His Holy Presence, just like the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant once resided, and where God descended in His Holy Presence, to dwell among His people. He is now enthroned in our hearts, and is truly present in each and every one of us.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the Lord Jesus teaching more to His disciples and followers with the parables and stories to highlight and explain what the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven is all about. And He told them all of how the Kingdom of Heaven is truly open to all, using the comparison to a net that is thrown wide, gathering everyone in, highlighting how each and every one of us, God’s beloved people, all of mankind, have been beloved equally by God, from the smallest to the greatest amongst us, and to even the greatest of sinners, to those whom we may consider to be unworthy of God. Each one of us, though sinners, are called to God’s grace, to embrace His love and compassionate mercy.

However, at the same time, we are reminded that we have to be good, worthy and righteous in our lives and deeds so that we may truly be worthy of everything that God has prepared for us. Unless we heed His words and embrace our calling to live lives that are truly attuned to the Lord and in accordance with His will, we may find ourselves being found wanting because we lacked the faith and the commitment to live faithfully in the Lord’s path. And that is why we are reminded of this, that we should not remain idle in our faith and way of life. We must turn away from the path of sin and wickedness, from all the temptations of this world, from all the unhealthy attachments which we have for the ambitions and the desires of this world, for all sins and wickedness around us.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the famous founder of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. St. Ignatius of Loyola was born as Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola in the castle of Loyola, where he got his epithet from, to a family of minor nobles. His early life was rather turbulent with lots of conflicts, a lot of changes and losses, and he grew through his youth thinking that he would become a great warrior, pursuing ambitions of knighthood and chivalry, as he served in the military, fighting wars and battles that were rampant and frequent at that time. He pursued worldly glory, fame and was ambitious, but he felt something was lacking in his life as he kept on fighting battles after battles, wars after wars.

And at one moment when he was injured due to being struck by a cannonball, he had to be put out of action for a while, and while healing from his injuries and recuperating, he was seeking for the tales of chivalry and knighthood to satisfy his boredom. But only books on the lives of the saints were available to him, and his experiences reading through them made St. Ignatius of Loyola to go through a moment of conversion, changing his life and path forever. It was from that moment on, that St. Ignatius of Loyola no longer sought worldly glory and ambitions, and instead, he began a new path, seeking for the conversion of hearts and souls. This eventually led to the establishment of the Society of Jesus, as St. Ignatius of Loyola gathered together others who were also passionate about the salvation of souls as he had been.

That was how St. Ignatius of Loyola spearheaded the effort of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits in taking part in the Counter-Reformation efforts, at a time of great upheaval for the Church, when the Church and the whole Christendom was under great threat from external threats and from within, as at that time, the Church was wrecked and divided by the then raging Protestant reformation and other divisions, while the rising forces of the Ottoman Turks were rampaging across Christendom, conquering many countries where Christians were living in, and at times even threatened the heart of Christendom in Rome and Central Europe. The Jesuits were at the forefront of the efforts of the Church in combatting the heresies and also reaching to the many people who had not believed in the Lord, as they were also sent out to many missions around the world to spread the Good News.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the life and examples of St. Ignatius of Loyola and his fellow Jesuits in doing the will of God and in proclaiming the Good News and truth of God, and reminded of the fact that each and every one of us are the Holy Temples of God’s Holy Presence, let us all therefore seek to live our lives worthily in the manner that the Lord Himself has shown and taught us. Let us all continue to strive and persevere in our faith, doing our best to glorify Him by our faithful and worthy lives. May He continue to bless us all in our every good endeavours and efforts, and may He continue to strengthen us in our journey of faith, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 13 : 47-53

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net, let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish into buckets, but throw the bad away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the Angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just, and to throw the wicked into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So He said to them, “Therefore, every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, is like a householder, who can produce from his store things both new and old.”

When Jesus had finished these parables, He left that place.

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Thursday, 31 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11

My soul yearns; pines, for the courts of YHVH. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at Your altars, o YHVH of hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your house, continually singing Your praise! Happy, the pilgrims whom You strengthen, they go from strength to strength.

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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Thursday, 31 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Exodus 40 : 16-21, 34-38

Moses did this; he did exactly as YHVH had commanded him. The Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. Moses set up the Holy Tent. He fixed the bases for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts. He spread the tent over the Holy Tent and on top of this the covering for the Tent, as YHVH had commanded Moses.

He took the Covenant and placed it inside the Ark. He set the poles to the Ark in place and put the mercy seat on it. He brought the Ark into the Holy Tent and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the Ark of YHVH, as YHVH had commanded Moses.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of YHVH filled the Holy Tent. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the Glory of YHVH that filled the Holy Tent. At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Holy Tent, the people of Israel would continue their march. If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not move their camp until it did.

For the cloud rested on the Holy Tent by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night for all the house of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.

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Wednesday, 31 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded that we should continue to put our focus, attention and emphasis on the Lord at all times and opportunities, and we should not allow the many temptations and allures of worldly glory, pleasures, ambitions and other things from leading us astray down the path towards our downfall and destruction. We should always keep in mind that as Christians, each and every one of us are the ones whom God had called and chosen from this world, and whom He embraced as His own beloved sons and daughters, as those whom He is pleased with, and seek to be reunited with.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah in which we heard of the frustrations of the prophet Jeremiah who at that time had been sent by God to minister to the people of the kingdom of Judah, the southern half of what was once the united kingdom of Israel. Jeremiah was sent to proclaim God’s words and judgment to the people and kingdom of Judah, telling them all of the wickedness that they had done as well as the consequences of those wickedness and sins. The Lord wanted His people to know that He still loved them and was concerned for them, and therefore told them through His prophet that they should repent from their many sins, and warning them of the doom and destruction which they would face if they continued to disobey Him.

But for all these works and things that he had done in God’s employ, Jeremiah faced a lot of stubborn resistance and rejection from those who refused to listen to God’s words. He was persecuted and had a difficult journey and life as God’s prophet, just like many others before him. And just like any one of us, even Jeremiah could break under pressure and duress, after he had to face such stubbornness and all the difficulties that he had to endure amidst all those challenges. But at the same time, as we heard in that same passage, the Lord also spoke to Jeremiah, reassuring him of His protection and guidance, and how despite all the hardships, challenges and dangers that he had to endure, God would always be with him and guard him, and indeed, if we follow the life and story of the prophet Jeremiah, God had saved and protected him on many occasions, and gave him the strength to persevere through those difficulties.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account from the Gospel of St. Matthew in which the Lord spoke to His disciples and followers using two parables to highlight what the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God is like. He used parable of the treasure in the field and the parable of a pearl of great price to show that the Kingdom of Heaven, God’s glorious Kingdom, His triumph and victory is something that we should value over all else, and is what we should put as the focus and emphasis of our whole lives. Each and every one of us as Christians should put our focus on the Kingdom of God and value it above everything else in our lives, above all the temptations and distractions all around us, the false treasures that will not lead us to the ultimate triumph and victory with God.

We are reminded as we heard these readings from the Scriptures that first of all, following God is not an easy matter, just as how the prophet Jeremiah and the many other holy men and women of God had suffered. To be a disciple and follower of Christ, we may often have to face difficulties and challenges just as the many stories and experiences of our holy predecessors have shown us. But we must also be strengthened and encouraged by the fact that God is always with us throughout the way, and just as He had done with the prophet Jeremiah and His many other servants, He will always be by our side, providing for us and giving us His help in our respective paths and journeys. The path we tread and walk through may indeed be difficult and arduous, but we must not be afraid to make the sacrifices and the efforts needed for us to remain true to this path, just as the person who discovered the treasure and the merchant who found the pearl in the Lord’s parables had done.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the great founder of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, namely that of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was born in the northern part of Spain today as the youngest son of a local Basque nobility, at the time when there were many conflicts and wars happening in the region. St. Ignatius of Loyola eventually grew up into a young man who was interested in military matters and career, seeking for glory and fame through wars and battles, seeking all that through the various romanticised war stories and legends he was inspired by in his youth. Hence, he joined the army at the young age of seventeen, fighting in many battles in Navarre in northern Spain, until one day, he was seriously injured by a cannonball hitting one of his legs, which effectively ended his military career.

St. Ignatius of Loyola went through a spiritual conversion as he was recovering from that major injury, as he was exposed to the story of the Lord and His saints, realising that his earlier pursuit of fame and glory through war and conflicts had ultimately been illusory and fleeting, a fact further emphasised by his mangled leg and injury, reminding him and also all of us of just how fickle life in this world can be, and how fleeting any kind of earthly glory and satisfaction can be. And as he grew closer to God, he eventually came to the idea of establishing an order and congregation of men dedicated and committed to God and His Church, to the mission of evangelisation and ministering to the people of God, which came to reality with the Society of Jesus.

Through the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola gathered many other people who were called to serve the Lord, including those like St. Peter Faber and St. Francis Xavier who were counted among the founding members of the Jesuits. They worked tirelessly to serve God and His people in both Christendom at the time when the Protestant reformation was causing great harm and divisions on many of the faithful, as the spearhead of the Counter Reformation efforts, as well as in distant lands to proclaim the Gospel of Christ among the people who have not yet known God and His truth, like what St. Francis Xavier and many others did in the Far East and beyond. St. Ignatius of Loyola committed himself and the rest of his life in serving God faithfully and we should be inspired by his great examples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we have heard from the Sacred Scriptures, pondered and reflected, and then through the life and experiences of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the great saint whose memory we remember and venerate today, let us all as Christians renew our commitment to be ever more faithful, zealous and committed disciples and followers of God, giving our best in whatever areas and missions that He had entrusted to us, so that by our various contributions and efforts, we may truly glorify Him and bear rich fruits of our efforts in the advance of the proclamation of the truth of God and His salvation to all.

May the Lord, our most loving God continue to guide and strengthen us in our journey and faith, at each and every moments so that we may continue to be good and worthy examples for everyone around us in our lives and actions. May He bless our many good works and endeavours, our efforts and contributions to the missions of His Church, and may He strengthen us in the commitment and conviction to continue proclaiming Him at all times, in our every niches in life and in all of our various communities. Amen.

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Wednesday, 31 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 13 : 44-46

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field. The one who finds it, buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field.”

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader, who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it.”

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Wednesday, 31 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 58 : 2-3, 4-5a, 10-11, 17, 18

Deliver me from my enemies, o God, from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from evildoers; rescue me from the bloodthirsty.

Look, they lie in wait for my life; the mighty conspiring against me, for no fault of mine, o YHVH. I have done them no wrong; yet, they prepare to attack me.

O my Strength, I look up, to You; for You, o God, are my Fortress. My loving God will come to help me and let me see my enemies fall.

But I will sing of Your might; in the morning I will sing of Your love. For You have been a Fortress to me, a Refuge in time of distress.

O my Strength, I will sing praises to You; for You, o God, are my Stronghold; You are a loving God.

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Wednesday, 31 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Jeremiah 15 : 10, 16-21

Woe is me, Mother, why did you bring me to the light? A man of dissension throughout the land! I owe them nothing, neither do they owe me, yet they all curse me!

I devoured Your words when they came. They were my happiness and I felt full of joy when You made Your Name rest on me. I never associate with worldly people, amusing myself with scoffers! When Your hand was upon me I stood apart and You filled me with Your anger. Why is there no end to my sorrow or healing for my wound? Why do You deceive me, and why does my spring suddenly dry up?

Then YHVH spoke to me, “If you return I will take you back and you will serve Me again. Draw the gold from the dross and you will be as My own mouth. You must draw them to you and not to go over to them. I will make you a fortress and a wall of bronze facing them; if they fight against you they will not overcome you; I am with you to free you and save you. I will redeem you from the wicked and free you from the hands of tyrants.”

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Friday, 31 July 2020 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listen to the words of the Scripture we are reminded that we have often been stubborn and rebellious before God, and we have often ignored the Lord’s genuine love and call for us to return to Him, as history and Scriptural records and truth had revealed to us. As it had once happened at that time, so it has happened again at present and will happen again in the future.

In the first reading today, taken from the passage of the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the words of the Lord that He spoke through Jeremiah and which He asked of the prophet to convey to the people of Judah, calling them all to repent and turn away from their sins, that He might forgive them and stay His wrath from them all and rescind the punishments for the many sins that the people had committed all those while.

And the Lord also reminded His people that unless they repent from their sins, then what happened to the sanctuary of Shiloh would also happen to them all, as a kind and loving reminder that God still yet gave more and more chances to His people to repent and turn away from their sins. For the context, the sanctuary of Shiloh historically had been important religious centre for the Israelites since the days of the Judges before the rise of the kingdom of Israel.

And Shiloh was likely the place where the then Judge and High Priest Eli had his seat and where the Ark of the Covenant was kept under the Holy Tent. When the two wicked sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas led the Israelites against the Philistines who raided and attacked them, they brought the Ark of the Covenant with them, thinking that they would win and triumph over the Philistines. On the contrary, they suffered a terrible defeat, the wicked Hophni and Phinehas were killed and the Ark of God was taken away by the enemy.

The story of the sanctuary of Shiloh was a great tragedy and humiliation for the Israelites, and the utterance of the place was the way for the Lord to convey the message to the Israelites that if they continued on in their path of wickedness and sin, just as it had happened before, then it would happen again. And this was proven correct later on, as within about two decades, both Judah and Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Babylonians, the Temple destroyed and the Ark went missing since then.

It was a humiliation on a perhaps much greater scale than the humiliation of Shiloh, but it could have been prevented had the people then been more humble and accepting of God’s love and mercy. But they hardened their hearts as we heard from our first reading today, opposing Jeremiah and protesting publicly against him and whatever he had said and done, while refusing to reinspect and relook once again at their own lives and actions, their lack of faith and sin.

In the Gospel today, we heard a parallel story in how Jesus was doubted and rejected by none other than His own townspeople, those who had seen Him grow up in their midst, His neighbours and even perhaps friends. Those were the same people who expressed doubt and disbelief at the Lord after hearing Him speak and performing miracles. They had seen Him grow up in a poor carpenter family just like many of them, in a poor backwater village in Galilee. Therefore, it could even be seen as the people being jealous and refused to believe that the Lord Jesus could have been genuine.

It is sad how these attitudes are leading people away from God, and they kept so many people in their ego and pride, their hardened hearts and closed minds that they ended up being ever more and more distant from God. Yet, God has always been patient in reaching out to us and calling on us to follow Him despite our many transgressions and disobedience. And just as the path of disobedience leads to our downfall and annihilation, should we turn away from sin and be reconciled with God, then a bright future awaits us.

Today, we remember the memory of one of such converts, a great saint and holy man of God, devout as priest and champion of Christendom against its many troubles and enemies. Yet, when this holy man of God was young, he was not at all devout, and treated God as someone insignificant and distant, preferring to seek worldly ambitions and dreams of glory and might, as the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits can tell us.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was born into a minor noble family in northern part of what is now Spain. He was brought up in the common norm of the time as part of the nobility, surrounded by wealth, power and privileges, and the young St. Ignatius of Loyola dreamt of great pursuits and noble, chivalrous deeds as was expected of many among the nobles then. To that extent, in the pursuit of glory and power, St. Ignatius of Loyola joined the military, and at that time, wars and conflicts characterised many parts of Christendom as kings fought for power and influence.

In one of the sieges, St. Ignatius of Loyola was badly injured and he had to stay in the hospital to treat his terrible wounds. As he was bedridden for a while, he was initially restless and wanted to resume his previous military career. But his almost life-threatening injury ended his military life, and he went through profound spiritual conversion through reading the lives of the Lord and the saints. As he continued to explore this newfound interest and passion, St. Ignatius of Loyola left behind the worldly pursuits and desires he once had, and instead, he sought to imitate the holy lives of the saints and serve the Lord.

To this extent, St. Ignatius of Loyola came to practice spiritual discernment and experiences that he would later also be famous for, as the Ignatian spirituality. And as he met and gathered like-minded people, who wanted to serve the Lord and the Church particularly during the troubled times at that time when the Church and the faithful were threatened from both the outside by the rising power of the Ottomans that persecuted Christian communities and conquered many nations, to the rapidly growing heresy of Protestantism that divided many communities of the faithful and led many astray from the true faith.

Therefore, St. Ignatius of Loyola together with several other men founded the Society of Jesus and became in time, the spearhead of the Church’s efforts in countering the threats faced at that time by the faithful. Led by St. Ignatius of Loyola, many Jesuits would go to various places throughout Christendom and through many years of labour and loving commitment, brought countless souls back to salvation in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard how St. Ignatius of Loyola had been transformed by the chance experience he had when he was injured, and how he opened himself to the Lord and desired to seek Him as he went on to learn more and more about Him. And this is what we should all be doing as well in our lives. This is what each and every one of us have been called to do, to allow God to lead us in our lives to the right path, and for us to follow Him wholeheartedly, rejecting sin and evil for good and righteousness.

Let us all follow in the footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and remember his motto, ‘Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam’ meaning ‘For the greater glory of God’. Let our lives and actions be transformed and changed by God, that in everything we say and do, in our every interactions, we will glorify God and be inspiring role models for one another, that we all may become ever closer to God and His salvation. May God bless us always in everything we do, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 31 July 2020 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 13 : 54-58

At that time, Jesus went to His hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, “Where did He get this wisdom and these special powers? Is He not the carpenter’s Son? Is Mary not His mother and are James, Joseph, Simon and Judas not His brothers? Are not all His sisters living here? How did He get all this?” And so they took offence at Him.

Jesus said to them, “The only place where prophets are not welcome is their hometown and in their own family.” And He did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.