St. Peter Damian

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Saturday, 21 February 2015 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 58 : 9b-14

YHVH said, “If you remove from your midst the yoke, the clenched fist and the wicked word, if you share your food with the hungry and give relief to the oppressed, then your light will rise in the dark, your night will be like noon. YHVH will guide you always and give you relief in desert places.”

“He will strengthen your bones; He will make you as a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt, the age-old foundations will be raised. You will be called the Breach-mender, and the Restorer of ruined houses.”

“If you stop profaning the sabbath and doing as you please on the holy day, if you call the sabbath a day of delight and keep sacred YHVH’s holy day, if you honour it by not going your own way, not doing as you please and not speaking with malice, then you will find happiness in YHVH, over the heights you will ride triumphantly, and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of YHVH has spoken.”

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Friday, 21 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, make a choice, between good and evil, and between the Lord and Satan. We must make a stand in the battle for our souls, in whether we choose to follow the Lord or instead, the path of the devil. We cannot be half hearted in this matter. Be confident and faithful in our choice, and we will be rewarded.

Jesus Himself had told us, through His disciples, how important is the salvation of our souls, and that nothing in the world can compensate or match with how much our soul is worth. Yet, many of us, either because we are unaware, or because we lack the faith, choose to let our souls be corrupted and lost, as a price for gaining the powers and influence in this world.

Yes, the temptations and allures of this world are great indeed, that they can pull mankind away from the path towards the Lord, with all the tempting and good offerings of the good that is in the world. The devil is very resourceful and he has all the world and all of its goodness in his power and possession. If we are not vigilant, brothers and sisters in Christ, we will fall to the trap of the devil.

The devil attacks us daily with these temptations and goodies of the world, trying to steer us away from our way towards salvation in God. He does not want to see us saved, and therefore will definitely try his best to prevent that by doing what I have just mentioned. His attacks are relentless and merciless, and he will not stop before we lay separated from the love of God and suffer with him in hell.

If we are to defend ourselves from evil, then we have to commit ourselves fully to the Lord, by dedicating ourselves to Him and following Him with all of our heart and with all of our might and strength. We cannot be uncertain or reluctant in this, for doubt and lack of seriousness hamper our progress towards salvation. No, brothers and sisters, our faith must be firm and genuine!

Yes, our faith cannot be just empty words or repeated professions of faith made without meaning or concrete examples. If we do so, then we are the perfect hypocrites, whom the Lord condemned in the Pharisees, as they were outwardly faithful and devoted, and yet their prayers were empty and there was no God inside of them. Indeed, they let themselves be corrupted by the devil, and follow his ways rather than the Lord.

Brethren, our faith cannot be like that of the Pharisees’ or God will also condemn us in the same way. Our faith, as according to St. James in his letter, must be alive and active, and cannot be a dormant and empty faith. How to do so? Faith that is alive and active means that the faith is substantiated and affirmed with action and love.

And as St. James again mentioned, that faith cannot be separated from action, and neither can action for the good of the Lord and mankind be separated from the faith. Our faith must be alive and supported with our active participation of the faith. Let our faith be one of a living Creed, firmly founded on our loving actions, in our devotion and love for God, and in our concern and love for our brethren.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Peter Damian, a well known religious and teacher of the faith, who was truly faithful to the Lord and showed it in his actions, that his faith was a living, not an empty one. St. Peter Damian was renowned for his emphasis on holy living, one based on sincere and strong discipline, maintaining the purity of one’s soul through hard work, discipline, and loving acts towards the brethren in need.

St. Peter Damian also contributed enormously to the Church, by his teachings and acts in showing the faith he has for God, by championing reforms in the Church, and he was eventually made an influential Cardinal by the Pope despite his initial refusal. St. Peter Damian used his new position to garner even more work and effort to ensure that the Church and the people of God remain faithful to the Lord.

St. Peter Damian exhorted his brother Cardinals to live and lead by example, and to shine in their faith. He showed that actions and deeds cannot be separated from faith, and faith must be substantiated by love, in loving both God and our fellow brothers and sisters. Today we are again reminded both how important our faith is to us, and how we have to also lead by example as St. Peter Damian had done.

May through the inspiration and intercession of St. Peter Damian, we will be able to get closer to the Lord, and may our faith in Him be ever living, vibrant and genuine, that the Lord who sees how faithful we are, will reward us with eternal glory in His heavenly majesty. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 21 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Mark 8 : 34 – Mark 9 : 1

Then Jesus called the people and His disciples, and said, “If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for My sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will save it.”

“What good is it to gain the whole world, while destroying your soul? There is nothing more precious than your soul. I tell you : if anyone is ashamed of Me and of My words among this adulterous and sinful people, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the Glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

And He went on to say, “Truly I tell you, there are some here who will not die before they see the kingdom of God coming with power.”

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Friday, 21 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are for his family, there his integrity will remain. He is for the righteous a light in darkness, he is kind, merciful and upright.

It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever.

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Friday, 21 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

James 2 : 14-24, 26

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you. If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food and one of you says, “May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,” without attending to their material needs, what good is that? So it is for faith without deeds : it is totally dead.

Say to whoever challenges you, “You have faith and I have good deeds; show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.” Do you believe there is one God? Well enough, but do not forget that the demons also believe and tremble with fear!

You foolish one, do you have to be convinced that faith without deeds is useless? Think of our father Abraham. Was he not justified by the act of offering his son Isaac on the altar? So you see, his faith was active along with his deeds and became perfect by what he did.

The word of Scripture was thus fulfilled, Abraham believed in God so he was considered a righteous person and he was called the friend of God. So you see, a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. So, just as the body is dead without its spirit, so faith without deeds is also dead.

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Thursday, 21 February 2013 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor (Scripture Reflection)

The Lord our God provides for all of us, and He cares for us. For He is our Father, the creator of all things in this universe. Therefore it is only fitting that He gives us all that we need, and no, those are not material goods and wealth, but love, His love, which fulfills us and make us whole in Him. All if we just simply ask Him, to open ourselves to Him who loves us. God is willing to give many things to us, but many times, we are simply not receptive to His approach and His outstretched hands. Even at other times we turned our back on God, and rejected His love and kindness to us, in favour of the pleasures and good things that the world has to offer us.

Indeed, the world does have many good things, and many of us are fortunate enough to have a comfortable life and enough in all things and material goods that we need to do so. However, many of us, especially those of us who are prosperous, increasingly in these recent years, are growing in their spiritual hunger, in the search of something that can satisfy their life. For material goods and wealth, although may bring joy at first, but it cannot continue to sustain our joy and happiness, not without the Lord as the centre of our life.

For life without God is ultimately empty. Men can gather as much money and wealth that they want, and then spend them as lavishly as they wish. However, as history has often told us, many of these people have no true happiness, since in dealing with their immense worldly possessions, they built for themselves the illusion of happiness, sustained by these wealth, and which blinded us not only to God, but also the plight of many among us who are indeed less fortunate.

Therefore, let us indeed aspire to become more like the Lord, who listens and who pays attention to those who come to Him, just as we are well received when we go and seek for Him in sincerity, and open the doors of His heart to us when we pray to Him in our hearts; Therefore, we too should make ourselves available and reachable to those around us, our friends, our relatives, those whom we do not know but need our help, and even those who hated us and persecuted us.

Let these people come to us, and when they ask, let us not turn them away, just as the Lord does not turn us away when we ask Him for mercy and favour. Open the door for them, and through us, let us be the channel of God’s love. Just as God’s love, grace, and blessing came to us, let us share these blessings, in whatever form, either material or even spiritual with those around us who are lacking. For as many as there are who still suffer from poverty and material deficiency, there are even more people in this world today, who suffer from the poverty of the soul, the emptiness of the soul, only curable by God Himself.

Let us endeavour to bring God to those who seek Him, and let us not deny them this chance, and therefore through us, God has made His work of redemption manifest, to bring the sacrifice of Christ on the cross into completion. Christ offered Himself for our sake that we can be saved, but there are still many who reject Him and reject His teachings.

Today, we commemorate the memorial of St. Peter Damien, was a well-known and respected Cardinal of the Church in the early medieval era, well known for his reform of the religious orders and monastic practices, and the priesthood in general. His great piety and humility, and constant acts of penitence showed his great quality in the faith, and especially important is the numerous writings attributed to him on the faith and the Church, and how these writings had considerable impacts on the later saints, which includes St. Francis of Assisi and other great medieval saints and doctors of the Church, which St. Peter Damian was one of them, a Doctor of the Church through his extensive and influential works on our Christian faith, helping to define the Church in the next centuries following his death.

Like St. Peter Damian too, we can follow in his footsteps and that of other great saints, whose great love for the Lord has made them to seek the Lord and ask Him for strength and perseverance to serve the people of God, and bring God’s love to them. We too can do so in our own ways, in our own daily lives, and among our own relatives, friends, and neighbours. Reach out and share with one another the love and faith you have in God. Remember that a light is not to be hidden, but to be put on a lampstand that all can see in its light. Let us bring light to everyone, through us, who has a share in the Light that is God, that all mankind will one day be united in Christ, in God who loves us dearly.

St. Peter Damian, pray for us, and pray for God’s holy Church in this world, for all the bishops, and for our Pope, who in his great humility as you were, gave up his position so that others who are more capable of the great ministry can help accomplish the works that he has begun. St. Peter Damian, we also ask you to pray for Monsignor William Goh, who will be ordained as a bishop tomorrow, that he will be always strong and empowered by the Holy Spirit in his ministry. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 February 2013 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 7 : 7-12

Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and the door will be opened to him who knocks. Would any of you give a stone to your son, when he asks for bread? Or give him a snake, when he asks for a fish?

As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! So, do to others whatever you would that others do to you : there you have the Law and the Prophets.

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Thursday, 21 February 2013 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor (Psalm)

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8

I thank You, o Lord, with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy temple and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called, You restored my soul and made me strong.

With Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.

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Thursday, 21 February 2013 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor (First Reading)

Esther 4 : 17 n, p-r, aa-bb, gg-hh (Vulgate Bible : Esther 14 : 1, 3-5, 12-14)

Seized with anguish in her fear of death, Queen Esther likewise had recourse to the Lord. Then she prayed to the Lord God of Israel : “My Lord, You who stand alone, come to my help; I am alone and have no help but You. Through my own choice I am endangering my life. As a child I was wont to hear from the people of the land of my forebears that You, o Lord, chose Israel from among all peoples, and our fathers from among their ancestors to be Your lasting heritage; that You did for them, all that You have promised.”

“Remember us, Lord; revel Yourself in the time of our calamity. Give me courage, King of gods and master of all power. Make my words persuasive when I face the lion; turn his heart against our enemy, that the latter and his like may be brought to their end. Save us by Your hand; help me who am alone and have none but You, o Lord.”