Son of God

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Monday, 24 December 2018 : 4th Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

2 Samuel 7 : 1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

When the king had settled in his palace and YHVH had rid him of all his surrounding enemies, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I live in a house of cedar but the Ark of God is housed in a tent.” Nathan replied, “Do as it seems fit to you for YHVH is with you.”

But that very night, YHVH’s word came to Nathan, “Go and tell My servant David, this is what YHVH says : Are you able to build a house for Me to live in? I took you from the pasture, from tending the sheep, to make you commander of My people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, cutting down all your enemies before you. Now I will make your name great, as the name of the great ones on earth.”

“I will provide a place for My people Israel and plant them that they may live there in peace. They shall no longer be harassed, nor shall wicked men oppress them as before. From the time when I appointed judges over My people Israel it is only to you that I have given rest from all your enemies. YHVH also tells you that He will build you a house.”

“When the time comes for you to rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your son after you, the one born of you; and I will make his reign secure. I will be a Father to him and he shall be My son. Your house and your reign shall last forever before Me, and your throne shall be forever firm.”

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Saturday, 8 December 2018 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 26-38

In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

The Angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean. But the Angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor; He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His reign shall have no end.”

Then Mary said to the Angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the Angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy Child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”

Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the Angel left her.

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Tuesday, 4 December 2018 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 10 : 21-24

At that time, Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and made them known to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been Your gracious will. I have been given all things by My Father, so that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said to them privately, “Fortunate are you to see what you see, for I tell you, that many prophets and kings would have liked to see what you see, but did not see it; and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

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Friday, 16 November 2018 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Gertrude, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints and Holy Virgins)

Luke 17 : 26-37

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be on the day the Son of Man comes. In those days people ate and drank and got married; but on the day Noah entered the Ark, the flood came and destroyed them all.”

“So it was in the days of Lot : people ate and drank, and bought and sold, and planted and built; but on the day Lot left Sodom, God made fire and sulfur rain down from heaven, which destroyed them all. So will it be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”

“On that day, if you are on the rooftop, do not go down into the house to get your belongings; and if you happen to be in the fields, do not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to save his life will lose himself, but whoever gives his life will be born again.”

“I tell you, though two men are sharing the same bed, it might happen that one will be taken, and the other left; though two women are grinding corn together, one might be taken and the other left.” Then they asked Jesus, “Where will this take place, Lord?” And He answered, “Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.”

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Thursday, 15 November 2018 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Luke 17 : 20-25

At that time, the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was to come. He answered, “The kingdom of God is not like something you can observe, and say of it, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘See, there it is!’ for the kingdom of God is within you.”

And Jesus said to His disciples, “The time is at hand, when you will long to see one of the glorious days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Then people will tell you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go with them, do not follow them. As lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will it be with the Son of Man; but first He must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.”

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Sunday, 7 October 2018 : Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 2 : 18-24

YHVH God said, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will give him a helper who will be like him.” Then YHVH God formed from the earth all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air and brought them to man to see what he would call them; and whatever man called every living creature, that was its name.

So man gave names to all the cattle, the birds of the air and to every beasts of the field. But he did not find among them a helper like himself. Then YHVH God caused a deep sleep to come over man and he fell asleep. He took one of his ribs and filled its place with flesh. The rib which YHVH God had taken from man He formed into a woman and brought her to the man.

The man then said, “Now this bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken from man.” That is why man leaves his father and mother and is attached to his wife, and with her become one flesh.

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Friday, 28 September 2018 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslas, Martyr and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Luke 9 : 18-22

At that time, one day, when Jesus was praying alone, not far from His disciples, He asked them, “What do people say about Me?” And they answered, “Some say, that You are John the Baptist; others say, that You are Elijah; and still others, that You are one of the Prophets of old, risen from the dead.”

Again Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Then Jesus spoke to them, giving them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. And He added, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, and be put to death. Then after three days He will be raised to life.”

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Friday, 21 September 2018 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ephesians 4 : 1-7, 11-13

Therefore, I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you, to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you, the unity of spirit, through bonds of peace. Let there be one body, and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, the Father of all, Who is above all, and works through all, and is in all.

But to each of us, divine grace is given, according to the measure of Christ’s gift. As for His gifts, to some, He gave to be Apostles; to others, prophets, or even evangelists; or pastors and teachers. So, He prepared those who belong to Him, for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united, in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus, we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity, and sharing the fullness of Christ.

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Saturday, 15 September 2018 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the day after we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation and the Triumph of the Holy Cross, we commemorate the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. On this day we remember the sorrow, anguish and pain which Mary, the Mother of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ experienced, when she saw her beloved Son suffering the pain of the crucifixion.

We can just imagine the greatness of the sorrow and anguish she experienced as a mother, who had to see her own Son suffering, and dying on the Cross. This is especially coming from a mother who is exceptionally loving towards her Son, having been the one who raised Him up and protected Him throughout life, and who journeyed with Him throughout the years of His ministry among the people of God.

She saw how her Son obediently followed the will of God, His Father, in taking up humbly, all the sins of mankind, as what He has been sent into the world for, and by taking all of those sins upon Himself, He let Himself be humbled, be humiliated and stripped off completely of any glory, privileges, and even basic human dignity, as He was tortured and spat upon by the people and those who have condemned Him to death.

This is what the prophet Simeon had spoken, in one of our two possible Gospel passages today, when he spoke to Mary, about the heart of Mary that would be pierced by a sword, to show the extent of pain and anguish she would suffer, in seeing her own Son suffering to such an extent. The sorrow which Mary felt must indeed have been very great. And yet, she remained true to her commitment to God, and in her love for her Son.

Most importantly, Mary has seen the suffering that her Son suffered, the sufferings that were intended for each one of us sinners. And this is why, we have seen many Marian apparitions throughout many centuries, especially at times when we mankind are undergoing periods of troubles, wickedness and evil. Mary appeared to us, as a loving mother who is concerned with our actions and our sins, our lack of faith and our apparent path towards damnation.

Why is that so? That is because, as we heard in the Gospel passage today taken from the account of the crucifixion by St. John, we heard how the Lord Jesus entrusted His mother Mary to the disciple He loved, that is St. John himself, and then also entrusted St. John to Mary, His mother, that she might be his mother and that he might be like her own son. In this way, the Lord has actually entrusted her to all of us mankind, to be our mother, and vice versa, that all of us have been entrusted to her as her own children.

You can imagine the kind of sorrow that Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows has experienced, when she saw all the sins that we continue to commit in our lives, all the actions lacking in faith and in all the vile deeds and wicked words we uttered, even among us all who have been considered as members of God’s Church, as baptised Christians. Many of us have not lived in accordance with what God has called us all to be, and our attention, heart and mind have not yet been centred on God.

Unless something is done, many of us, through our sins, are on our way to eternal damnation, because of all the good things and deeds which we have been told to do, and which are indeed our obligations as Christians, and yet which we have failed to do. Many of us have sought not true satisfaction in God, but rather the entertainment and the merrymaking ways of the world, seeking to satisfy the pleasures and desires of our flesh and bodies, and in how we ignore the plight of those who are crying out for justice and for our help.

In this context, how can Mary then stay silent in the midst of all these things that happened? How we mankind treated one another with contempt, with hatred, with jealousy, with ignorance of the sanctity of human life, when we cause suffering upon others, and even loss of life, just so that we might get what we wanted and satisfy our greed and pride? That was why Mary made her appearance at Fatima in Portugal, during the height of the First World War, calling for the conversion of mankind, and for them to turn away from their sinful ways.

She knows that if nothing was done for them, and they continued to walk down the path of sin, then what lies in the end will surely be the pain and eternal suffering in hell, when because of their sins, there would be those who encounter downfall into that state of eternal despair and rejection by God. As a mother, she cannot bear to see us suffer in the same manner as that of her Son, and therefore, she continues to pray for us, to guide us to the right path, to follow her Son, and find our way to salvation in Him.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, as those whom the Mother of God herself has considered as her own children, are we then so insolent and ungrateful, so as to make our dear mother even more saddened by our actions and wicked deeds? If we truly love God, we will also love His mother, and vice versa, and how do we love God and His mother Mary? It is by genuine conversion of heart and renewed commitment to live and serve the Lord at all times.

Let us all repent from all of our wicked ways and turn away from all the sins which we have committed in life thus far. Let us all have faith in God, and let us all grow to love Him more and more, and draw ever closer to Him, with each and every passing moments. May the Lord bless us all, and may He continue to guide us all through life. O Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us sinners always, that we will no longer add more sorrows to your grieving heart, through our conversion of hearts. Amen.

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Saturday, 15 September 2018 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 19 : 25-27

At that time, near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw the mother, and the disciple whom He loved, He said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.”

Then He said to the disciple, “This is your mother.” And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.

Alternative reading

Luke 2 : 33-35

At that time, the father and mother of Jesus wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a Sign; a Sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a Sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”