St. Jane Frances de Chantal

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Friday, 12 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Matthew 19 : 3-12

At that time, some Pharisees approached Jesus. They wanted to test Him and asked, “Is a man allowed to divorce his wife for any reason he wants?”

Jesus replied, “Have you not read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and He said : Man has now to leave father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body? So they are no longer two, but one body. Let no one separate what God has joined.”

They asked Him, “Then why did Moses command us to write a bill of dismissal in order to divorce?” Jesus replied, “Moses knew the hardness of your hearts, so he allowed you to divorce your wives; but it was not so in the beginning. Therefore I say to you : whoever divorces his wife, unless it be for prostitution, and marries another, commits adultery.”

The disciples said, “If that is the condition of a married man, it is better not to marry.” Jesus said to them, “Not everybody can accept what you have just said, but only those who have received this gift. There are eunuchs born so from their mother’s womb. Some have been made that way by others. But there are some who have given up the possibility of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who can accept it, accept it.”

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Friday, 12 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Isaiah 12 : 2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

He is the God of my salvation; in Him I trust and am not afraid, YHVH is my strength : Him I will praise, the One Who saved me. You will draw water with joy from the very fountain of salvation.

Praise to the Lord, break into songs of joy for Him, proclaim His marvellous deeds among the nations and exalt His Name.

Sing to the Lord : wonders He has done let these be known all over the earth. Sing for joy, o people of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

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Friday, 12 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Ezekiel 16 : 1-15, 60, 63

The word of YHVH came to me in these terms, “Son of man, make known go Jerusalem its sins. You say on My behalf : Your beginning was in Canaan; there you were born. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.”

“On the day you were born your cord was not cut, you were not bathed in water to make you clean, you were not rubbed with salt nor were you wrapped in cloth. There was no one to look with pity on you or compassionate enough to give you any of these attentions. You were left exposed in the open fields because you were looked upon with disgust on the day you were born.”

“But I passed by and saw you immersed in your blood. I said to you in the midst of your blood, ‘Live!’ I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and became tall and were becoming of marriageable age. Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown but you were naked and exposed. I passed by later and saw you were at the age of love and spread part of My garment over you to cover your nudity. I made a covenant with you with an oath – word of YHVH – and you were Mine.”

“Then I bathed you in water, I cleansed you of your blood and anointed you with oil. I clothed you with embroidered cloth and put soft leather sandals on your feet. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with necklace around your neck and a ring in your nose. I gave you earrings and a magnificent crown for your head.”

“You were adorned with gold and silver; your clothing was fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You were fed on finest flour, honey and oil; you became very beautiful and rose to be queen. Your beauty was perfect and your renown spread through the nations, because of the splendour I had given you – word of YHVH.”

“But you relied on your beauty; you trusted in your fame and you began to give yourself to every passerby like a prostitute. But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth and make in your favour an eternal covenant. So that you may remember, be ashamed and never open your mouth again because of your humiliation, when I have pardoned you for all you have done,” word of YHVH.

Alternative reading

Ezekiel 16 : 59-63

For thus says YHVH : “I will treat you as you deserve, you who despised the oath and broke the covenant. But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth and make in your favour an eternal covenant. You will be mindful of your ways and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both the elder and the younger, and give them to you as daughters, without prejudice to My covenant with you.”

“For I will uphold My covenant with you and you will know that I am YHVH, so that you may remember, be ashamed and never open your mouth again because of your humiliation, when I have pardoned you for all you have done,” word of YHVH.

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Wednesday, 12 August 2015 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how Moses looked at a glimpse of the Promised Land from Mount Nebo, the place of his death. Moses finally saw the land to where he was leading the people of Israel for forty years, the fruits of his long labours. However, he was unable to enter the Land because he had not been fully faithful, and on one occasion, he disobeyed the Lord and His will because of his anger against the people.

At that time, the people of Israel grumbled against the Lord and against Moses. They complained because they were hungry and thirsty, and they demanded what they wanted. They refused to listen to the Lord, and Moses was hard pressed by their demands. God commanded Moses to show the people of Israel His power, by speaking to the rock to let water to gush forth out of it.

However, Moses was so angered by the people he had led with much patience and hard work, and he struck the rock with his staff instead of speaking to it. Water still gushed out of the water and the people were able to drink and be satisfied. But God was not happy at Moses because of his disobedience, and as a result, together with Aaron and Miriam, his siblings, who earlier on had also rebelled against the Lord and Moses, they would not enter the Promised Land.

Yet, God who loves those who show their faith and dedication to Him showed Moses His mercy, and He allowed him to have a glimpse of the Land of Promise before he died. And when he died, God took him up to heaven to be with him. It was said by Jewish tradition that when Moses died, Satan was trying to claim him for himself, but God sent His Archangel Michael to wrestle with Satan and prevented him from getting Moses.

In the Gospel today, we heard about how Jesus spoke to His disciples and to the people on how they ought to resolve a problem that arose among them. He spoke to them how to deal with those who have not followed the commandments of God, or otherwise, living in heresy. God did not condemn them directly, or punished them directly if we noticed it. God instead gives them chance.

Yes, it does not mean that God hates sinner through and through, and once we sin we are rejected by God totally and completely. This is a misconception which many of us often have about the Lord and about sin. However, we have to take note that what the Lord despise is not the sinners themselves, but the sin which they have committed.

Thus, what God wants from us is not to punish us or to oppress us, but instead to save us from harm and liberate us from our own desires and our own wickedness. That is why He sent us Jesus to be our Saviour, to deliver us from the certainty of destruction and annihilation that await us had we remained on our path of doom, that is if we continue to live in our state of sin.

What matters is that we have to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness, by humbly accepting and acknowledging our own sinfulness and weakness, that is our predisposition to sin and the wickedness that we have committed before God and men alike. We must aspire and seek to change our lives, our way of life, so that our actions are no longer based on worldly things and we no longer commit sin, but repent completely and turn ourselves perfectly to follow the Lord our God.

Today, we celebrate the feast of a saint whose life can be a great inspiration to all of us on how we live our lives. St. Jane Frances de Chantal was a noblewoman who had a normal life as were other nobility at that time, having four children in her family. However, she was widowed early because of an accident, and she eventually devoted the rest of her life to serve the Lord as a religious.

She established a religious order, Congregation of the Visitation, which was unusual among the other religious orders for women at the time, because they were very active in their works and outreach to the poor and the sick, whom they often ministered in many places, as more and more followed the examples of St. Jane Frances de Chantal and her sisters.

In her examples too, we can see the work of God in place in this world. God through her and her congregation, as well as through many other media, is trying to help all of us to liberate ourselves from the allures of this world, and from the entanglements of our sins. We too should also help in bringing one another closer to God and away from our past and present state of sin.

Let us all realise the love and mercy which God had shown us, and which we all should appreciate, because they were very great indeed. Let us all seek God’s mercy and love in all things. May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, welcome us all into His kingdom and bring us into everlasting life. Amen.

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Wednesday, 12 August 2015 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Matthew 18 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “If your brother has sinned against you, go and point out the fault, when the two of you are in private, and if he listens to you, you have won your brother. If he does not listen to you, take with you one or two others, so that the case may be decided by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

“And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembled Church. But if he does not listen to the Church, then regard such a one as a pagan, or a publican. I say to you : whatever you bind on earth, heaven will keep bound; and whatever you unbind on earth, heaven will keep unbound.”

“In like manner, I say to you : If, on earth, two of you are united in asking for anything, it will be granted to you by My heavenly Father; for where two or three are gathered in My Name, I am there among them.”

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Wednesday, 12 August 2015 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 5 and 16-17

Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, “How great are Your deeds!”

Come and see God’s wonders, His deeds awesome for humans. All you who fear God, come and listen; let me tell you what He has done. I cried aloud to Him, extolling Him with my tongue.

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Wednesday, 12 August 2015 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Deuteronomy 34 : 1-12

From the barren plain of Moab, Moses went up to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. And YHVH showed him all the Land : from Gilead to Dan, the whole of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, the whole land of Judah, as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, the Plains, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

And YHVH said to him : “This is the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, promising it to their descendants. I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not enter it.” Moses, the servant of God, died there in the land of Moab, according to the will of YHVH. They buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but to this very day, no one knows where his tomb is.

Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. He did not lose his vigour and his eyes still saw clearly. The children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab for thirty days. But Joshua, son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him. The children of Israel obeyed him and did as YHVH had commanded Moses.

No prophet like Moses has appeared again. YHVH conversed with him face to face. What signs and wonders He worked in Egypt against Pharaoh, against his people and all his land! What a powerful hand was His that worked these terrible things in the sight of all Israel!

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Tuesday, 12 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the Lord and His profession of faith and devotion to us, as He told us how a shepherd would go all out of his way, leaving those sheep which are secure with him, and find the one lost sheep until that sheep is found. Our Lord is the Good Shepherd, as He Himself had said, and therefore, we are His sheep, in the pasture that is this world, and He will devote Himself in the same way as the shepherd is devoted to his flock of sheep.

In the first reading today, Ezekiel, the prophet of Israel called when the people of God was exiled at Babylon, received a vision showing God in all of His majesty, who commissioned him to speak His words on His behalf to the people of God, and particularly those who had rebelled against God and walked in ways contrary to the way of the Lord.

Thus, both readings essentially talked about the same thing, that God is concerned with the fate of mankind, particularly those who are lost in the darkness of this world, which is caused by our sinfulness and disobedience to the will of God. God wants those sheep that are lost, to be able to find their way back to Him before it is too late, and thus He sent His servants, the prophets like Ezekiel and ultimately Himself through Jesus His Son.

God did not take our case and fate lightly, as He knows that there are only two end points for us all, that is either eternal goodness or eternal damnation. Satan and his supporters are ever active in our world, dragging mankind and all those who are not vigilant into the trap of sin and evil, much like how wolves drag and trap their unsuspecting preys, the lost sheep into harm’s way and death.

That is why He sent on our way, so much help and assistance, that is the assistant shepherds which He gave us to be our shepherds and leaders to help us on our way to the Lord, to guard us and help us to evade the wolves. These were the prophets, and then followed by the disciples of Christ and their successors, our priests and bishops today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of a saint, St. Jane Frances de Chantal, a French noblewoman who lived during the late Renaissance era. She led a relatively normal life for the people of her age in that time, building up a family with her aristocrat husband, until she was widowed at the young age of twenty-eight with several of her children.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal then experienced a turn in her life, when she devoted herself to a life in devotion to God through charity and works, meeting up with saints and then established a congregation of women committed to the service of the poor, which she herself dutifully carried out for the sake of these lost ones of the children of God.

She was so devoted in her works, that despite all the opposition and challenges against her, even ridicule and obstacles would not allow her to give up her good works for God’s lost and weak children. It was indeed the same as how our Lord painstakingly worked hard to gather back all of His sheep, the lost ones, namely all of us, who had been sundered from Him ever since sin entered into the hearts of men.

We too have to follow her example, and the very example set up by our Lord, who as the Good Shepherd, did the ultimate act of love and devotion, by laying down His own life for His sheep, through the crucified Christ, that we all may live. It is important for us to realise how great is the love that God has for us, and therefore try our best to love Him back and seek Him with the best of our abilities.

Let us help one another on our way towards the Lord. Let us seek Him who is the Shepherd of all things living, and of all creations. He loves us all, and we should also all love Him back in the same way. Let us never be separated again from Him, and let us ask for the intercession of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, that our faith in the Lord will always be blessed by God. Amen.

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Tuesday, 12 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10, 12-14

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”

“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father.”

“What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you : when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it than about the ninety-nine, that did not get lost.”

“It is the same with your Father in heaven : your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.”

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Tuesday, 12 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Psalm 118 : 14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131

I delight in following Your laws, more so than in all riches.

Your laws are my delight, my counselors who uphold me.

Your law is more precious to me than heaps of silver and gold.

How sweet are Your promises to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Your statutes are my heritage forever, they are the joy of my heart.

I gasp in ardent yearning for Your commandments that I love.