Sunday Mass

by

Sunday, 9 August 2020 : Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 14 : 22-33

At that time, immediately, Jesus obliged His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowd away. And having sent the people away, He went up the mountain by Himself, to pray. At nightfall, He was there alone.

Meanwhile, the boat was very far from land, dangerously rocked by the waves, for the wind was against it. At daybreak, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. When they saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, thinking that it was a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But at once, Jesus said to them, “Courage! Do not be afraid. It is Me!”

Peter answered, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Jesus said to him, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water to go to Jesus. But seeing the strong wind, he was afraid, and began to sink; and he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and took hold of him, saying, “Man of little faith, why did you doubt?” As they got into the boat, the wind dropped. Then those in the boat bowed down before Jesus, saying, “Truly, You are the Son of God!”

by

Sunday, 9 August 2020 : Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 9 : 1-5

I tell you, sincerely, in Christ, and my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit, that I am not lying. I have great sadness and constant anguish for the Jews. I would even desire, that, I myself, suffer the curse of being cut off from Christ, instead of my brethren : I mean, my own people, my kin.

They are Israelites, whom God adopted, and on them, rests His glory. Theirs, are the Covenants, the Law, the worship and the promises of God. They are descendants of the patriarchs, and from their race, Christ was born, He, Who, as God, is above all distinctions. Blessed be He forever and ever : Amen!

by

Sunday, 9 August 2020 : Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 84 : 9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Would, that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet, His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

YHVH will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

by

Sunday, 9 August 2020 : Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 19 : 9a, 11-13a

On reaching the place, Elijah came to the cave and stayed in it. Then YHVH said, “Go up and stand on the mount, waiting for YHVH.” And YHVH passed by.

There was first a windstorm, wild wind which rent the mountains and broke the rocks into pieces before YHVH, but YHVH was not in the wind. After the storm, an earthquake, but YHVH was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, a fire, but YHVH was not in the fire; after the fire, the murmur of a gentle breeze.

When Elijah perceived it, he covered his face with his cloak, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

by

Sunday, 2 August 2020 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday all of us heard one clear message from our Scripture readings today, that God is Love, and God loves each and every one of us so greatly and so wonderfully that we must really appreciate all that He had done for us all these while. Too often we mankind have ignored God’s love, rejected His compassion and mercy and preferring to do things our own way. Imagine how terrible it is for to be so stubborn and to rebel against God Who has loved us all so very much.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spoke to us all, calling on us to look for Him, that He will provide for us whatever we need, be it food or drink, be it sustenance in other form, as well as love and care, and He will fulfil the Covenant that He had once made with our ancestors, and which He has renewed again and again throughout time, and which He made one final renewal for all eternity in the New Covenant that He has established through Christ, His Son.

And in the Gospel passage today, we heard of the well-known miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, as the Lord was faced with five thousand men and thousands more of women and children, their family members, who followed Him as He taught them and spoke to them of God’s truth and love. As we all know, the Lord miraculously fed all the multitudes of people with just five loaves of bread and two fish, blessing them and breaking them for all the people to eat until they were all satisfied.

The Lord fed His people who hungered for food, and not just the physical food as we heard how they all ate of the bread and the fish, but in fact also, the food of the Word of God, as the people listened to the Lord teaching to them. The Lord said, that ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every words that come from the mouth of God’. It is there then the Lord, the Divine Word Incarnate in the flesh, became the Bread of Life for all of His people.

Thus, from what we have heard in today’s Gospel and the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of just how God fulfilled His promises and words, that truly, He meant every single words that He had said, and gave us the ultimate gift and the perfect manifestation of His love in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. For through Him we received the guarantee of eternal life and glory with Him, that by our living and genuine faith, we are to be part of this Covenant He has made with us.

As I said earlier on, God is Love, brothers and sisters in Christ, and God’s love is the very reason why the world and all of us exist. God is perfect in all things, and His perfection means that He does not have need for anything. Yet, in the overflowing love that exists between the members of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, God Who is Love created all of us to share in this wonderful love, for that is what love is all about, to show care and concern, passion and desire for the best things for one another.

And God’s love for us is so powerful, great and all-encompassing that St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans in our second reading today said, ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’ and he also said how no power, no matter how great, be it on earth, in heaven or hell, or from wherever in the universe or beyond, will be able to separate us from the love of God, the wonderful, gentle and all-encompassing love of God. God’s love has been provided for us so generously, and which He has shown again and again through the generations, just as our Gospel passage today is just one small example of this Love.

Yet, the question that often then comes to our mind is that, ‘Lord, if You love me so much, why is it then I have to suffer in this world?’ And this question is often the number one reason why we doubt, why we are unsure of God’s love, why we even become angry at God and refuse to believe in Him. We see suffering all around us, and which we also see in ourselves, and we doubt God’s love and even existence, for after all, if God does love us, then shouldn’t all of us be happy and good?

This is then where we need to understand that while God’s love for us have always been genuine, unconditional and true, the same often cannot be said for us. Our love is often conditional, selfish and self-centred, tainted with desire and greed, with jealousy and even with hatred. And that is why we have not been able to experience the fullness of God’s love as all the many temptations and obstacles present in our lives prevented us from truly experiencing this true love.

For example, on the matter of hunger and food, sustenance and providence that we have focused on a lot today, a lot of people may ask, if God truly loves us, then why is it that people are suffering daily from hunger, from famine, from lack of food and from impoverishment? Should all these things be absent if God truly loves us? These are definitely questions that run through our minds if we look at the situation all around us. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the answer is actually simpler than what we think.

God’s love has been abundantly given to us, and He has blessed us wonderfully. In the optimal and expected condition, this would have meant that everyone has enough for themselves, and yet, if we look around carefully, don’t we see plenty of inequalities, as some people dined in great excess and how food wastage is common in many countries, just as others suffered from hunger and famine in other countries? It was in fact our greed that had led to this sad and unfortunate situation.

What do I mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It was our misuse and indeed, abuse of God’s wonderful love and also freedom given to us that led to much suffering of all forms all around the world, in the past as it is in the present now and how it will also be in the future. As people succumbed to their greed and the temptations in desiring for more good things for themselves, this led to oppression, manipulation, extortion and even exploitation of others just so that some people can enjoy benefits at the cost to others, those who are less powerful, less wealthy and less privileged.

Alas, this is exactly what I meant when I said that the way we mankind has loved is imperfect, conditional, selfish and self-centred. We allow our ego and pride to mislead us, and greed to pull us into the trap of selfishness and self-centredness, and we have not loved as God loved us, as we were so preoccupied with ourselves and our desires that we ended up hurting others, being unfair, selfish and wicked in our actions in life.

That is why today, all of us as Christians are reminded that as God is Love, and as He has shared His love with us, we too shall love just as the Lord has loved us, in an unconditional, selfless and sincere way. This is true, genuine love that all of us must have within us, and which we must aspire to and spread in our practice towards one another. As children of humanity, and as God’s beloved children, and all the more, as Christians, we need to walk in the path of God’s love.

Therefore, we need to show this love through our every day actions, through every little gestures and interactions we have with one another. We must remember how God fed His multitudes of thousands and everyone had enough, just as in the past, during the Exodus, God fed His people with manna and everyone had enough to eat, with no one lacking or had excess, and as proven by the twelve baskets of leftovers that God had given His people more than enough.

As it was our selfishness and greed that caused hunger, suffering and sorrow for many, then it is our responsibility and calling to be the ones leading the way and show everyone the path of God’s love. Are we willing to do that, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing to show God’s wonderful love to our fellow brothers and sisters, and are we willing to challenge the customary ways of this world by rejecting the inherent selfishness and greed present in our current way of life?

As we all share in the one Body of Christ, let us all remember that we are first and foremost brothers and sisters, one family in the same one Lord, and through Him we have been united and have a share in His infinite and amazing love. Let us share God’s blessings by being more generous in giving, in whatever means we are able to, in order to help those who are less fortunate and suffering in our midst, especially this year as we have seen so many people suffered the extended effects of the pandemic and economic troubles in the past few months.

Many people have suffered, lost their jobs and getting retrenched, lost their pay or got their wages and salaries cut or suspended. Many people have fallen sick and suffered, not just from pandemic but also from various other health problems and are facing issues because of the strain being experienced by healthcare systems worldwide. And many lost their loved ones from these illnesses and from other reasons.

And we have seen how during these difficult and challenging times, the stresses and trials caused great friction and conflict within our communities, that we saw all the civil disturbances, riots and troubles that occurred between the divided members of our communities, as people fought one another over matters of racial divisions and prejudices, economic imbalance and insecurities, biases and intolerance. We have seen how people acted selfishly in trying to protect themselves, hoarding for essential goods and items that created scarcity for others who really needed the supplies.

Unfortunately, Christians were among many of those who participated in these actions, these selfishness and lack of compassion which caused even greater anguish and suffering for those who have already suffered. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on this and discern in what way that we can share the love of God in our communities beginning from now, if we have not done so yet. Let us all be filled with God’s love and love Him first and foremost, and love one another with genuine love, now and always.

May the Lord, our loving God and Father continue to love us as He has always patiently been doing all these while. May He grant us the strength to continue to show the same love, and the perseverance and compassion in our hearts, to reach out to our less fortunate brethren all around us, to those who were unloved and poor, those who had been marginalised and suffered, especially during these difficult days and times. May God bless us and our good endeavours and works, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Sunday, 2 August 2020 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 14 : 13-21

At that time, when Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, He set out by boat for a secluded place, to be alone. But the people heard of it, and they followed Him on foot from their towns. When Jesus went ashore, He saw the crowd gathered there, and He had compassion on them. And He healed their sick.

Late in the afternoon, His disciples came to Him and said, “We are in a lonely place and it is now late. You should send these people away, so that they can go to the villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” But Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fishes.” Jesus said to them, “Bring them here to Me.”

Then He made everyone sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fishes, raised His eyes to heaven, pronounced the blessing, broke the loaves, and handed them to the disciples to distribute to the people. And they all ate, and everyone had enough; then the disciples gathered up the leftovers, filling twelve baskets. About five thousand men had eaten there, besides women and children.

by

Sunday, 2 August 2020 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 8 : 35, 37-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Will it be trials, or anguish, persecution or hunger, lack of clothing, or dangers or sword? No, in all of this, we are more than conquerors, thanks to Him, Who has loved us.

I am certain, that neither death nor life, neither Angels nor spiritual powers, neither the present nor the future, nor cosmic powers, were they from heaven, or from the deep world below, nor any creature whatsoever, will separate us from the love of God, which we have, in Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

by

Sunday, 2 August 2020 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 144 : 8-9, 15-16, 17-18

Compassionate and gracious is YHVH, slow to anger and abounding in love. YHVH is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creation.

All creatures look to You to be fed in due season; with open hand, You satisfy the living, according to their needs.

Righteous is YHVH in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.

by

Sunday, 2 August 2020 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 55 : 1-3

Come here, all you who are thirsty, come to the water! All who have no money, come! Yes, without money and at no cost, buy and drink wine and milk.

Why spend money on what is not food and labour for what does not satisfy? Listen to Me, and you will eat well; you will enjoy the richest of fare. Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting Covenant, I will fulfil in you My promises to David.

by

Sunday, 26 July 2020 : Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, all of us are called to reflect on what we have just heard from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures in which we are reminded of this question, ‘What is our precious treasure in life?’ This treasure that we seek in life, is it the treasure of worldly material goods and possessions, or fame and influence, or earthly pleasures? It is important that we reflect on this matter so that we will know what it is that we are seeking in life and we can then plot the right path going forward in life.

In our first reading today, the Lord appeared to the young king Solomon in his dream not long after he had succeeded to the throne of Israel following his father, king David. And the Lord told him to ask of Him anything he wanted and it would be given to him. King Solomon was still young and new to the throne, inherited a great kingdom, wealthy and prosperous, mighty and powerful in arms. And he asked not for more power, glory or wealth, but rather for wisdom, the wisdom to discern the good from the bad, and to be able to lead the people of Israel wisely in the ways of the Lord.

And God Who was pleased with this request of king Solomon, gave him not just the great wisdom of which Solomon would forever be known for, but also even more glory, wealth and power in his kingdom that surpassed greatly his father, king David’s kingdom. Through this, we can see how the Lord is truly generous and kind to those who trust in Him and we are also reminded that the true treasure we should seek is not in any worldly matters and goods, but rather, in trusting in God.

For Solomon had great faith in the Lord, and even as he asked for wisdom from God, he did so not to glorify himself and for his own selfish purpose, but rather to be able to govern the people of God entrusted to him effectively and well, and to lead everyone to God. This shows how Solomon during his early and younger days in particular, had the Lord as the treasure of his life, his focus and emphasis that kept him in the right paths.

Unfortunately, if we are to dwell further into the life and reign of king Solomon after what we have heard in today’s Scripture passage, as Solomon grew older, he began to be swayed by the many worldly matters, pleasures and temptations, with his hundreds of wives and concubines, many of whom began to lead Solomon away from the Lord. They reintroduced pagan worship and wicked practices, and Solomon began to act more tyrannically towards those who disagreed with him.

This is what happened when we allow the false treasures of the world to sway us and tempt us, and unless we resist those temptations, as we saw how even someone with great wisdom and knowledge like king Solomon had fallen, we too will likely end up going down the wrong path in life. Solomon’s glorious reign, his vast wealth and fame all over the world, his immense stature and the wisdom he had made him proud in the heart, and in turn, made his path in life to begin to veer away from the Lord.

In our Gospel passage today then, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples regarding the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, using parables to explain to His disciples and followers what the kingdom of heaven is like and what we need to do in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. In the Gospel passage we heard firstly the parable of the treasure in the field, using the simple example of how someone discovered the treasure in the field and sold everything he had that he might buy the field and thus own the treasure.

And then, we also heard another parable in which the Lord compared the kingdom of heaven to a most beautiful and magnificent pearl of great worth and price. In that parable, again, the one who found the pearl of great price sold everything he had and buy the pearl as his true treasure. This is similar to the story of the treasure in the field, and the essence of the story is that the kingdom of heaven is so precious and great, that it is worth our entire existence to own it, and its value is beyond all that our earthly possessions and wealth can be compared to.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, the question that all of us need to answer then is, ‘What is our treasure in life? What is it that we have been looking for in life all these while? If our answer is wealth, worldly joy and pleasures, glory and fame, influence and power, then we must realise and understand that all of those things are superficial in nature and that they will also not last forever. None of them will endure and persist for long, and as easily as we gather them and accumulate them, we will also lose them.

Let us also keep in mind these words of the Lord in another part of the Gospel, that I feel is truly related to today’s passage, namely ‘What good is it for man, for him to gain the whole world but loses his soul?’ Through this phrase, the Lord wants us all to know that the world and everything it can offer us, all the ‘treasures’ and goods we may see and find attractive, all of these can lead us into losing our soul, meaning by falling into sin, and from sin into death and damnation.

Now, we also have to understand that the Lord does not ask us to sell everything we have and abandon all of our worldly dealings, wealth, possessions and all other things we have. If we read at His words and understand them literally, then it is what we may wrongly perceive and understand. What the Lord truly meant is that we have to get rid from ourselves all the unhealthy attachment, desire and obsessions. It is not wrong for us to possess material goods and to have worldly happiness, but we have to draw the line between having and being possessed and filled with desire for more of them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to detach ourselves from the unhealthy obsession and unbridled desire for the false treasures of life, and instead, seek for the true treasure that we can only find in God? Let us all heed from the examples of king Solomon, both his good example in his humility in asking for wisdom from God, the wisdom to be able to lead his people and rule with justice, and not seeking for worldly matters, and also his faults in the latter part of his life when he was overcome by the tempting power of the pleasures of life.

Are we able to resist these temptations to walk the path of sin and evil? Are we courageous and strong enough to reject these attempts by the devil to lead us astray and to distance ourselves from God? The Lord has called us to follow Him and He has shown us the way to reach out to Him, and now it is just for us to embrace this path that He has shown us. But it is easier to be said than done, as it will indeed prove a lot more difficult for us to seek the Lord’s path than the path of worldliness.

We live in a world inundated with plenty of materialism and even hedonism. We are flooded each and every day with subliminal messages encouraging consumeristic lifestyle, putting material wealth and goods first and foremost in our lives, and the prioritisation of self over others. The nature of our world today, our society and others emphasised to us a lot on selfishness, individualism, the pampering of the self and the pursuit of self-fulfilment and self-satisfaction.

And we need to know that we are up against all these in life, in our every living moments. Unless we strive hard to resist, we are bound to fall to the temptations that are indeed hard to escape from, especially if we have known many comforts in life. Once again, it is not wrong to have these comforts, but we must not crave or desire for these things in expense of finding our true treasure in life, that is God. Yes, in God alone we can find the true treasure that will last for eternity.

Ultimately, as our experiences and human history had shown us, we are usually never easily satisfied by what we already have in life, and we always desire for more, and many of the conflicts that happen in our world past and present, as it will also be in the future, are caused by these conflicting desires and by our greed. In the end, indulging in these false treasures will lead us nowhere but destruction, emptiness and pain and suffering.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on these readings today, let us also heed what St. Paul told us in his Epistle to the Romans in our second reading today, that God has called us and those whom He had called, He will make righteous and He will bless us in everything we have and do. We are indeed so fortunate to have such a loving God and caring Father by our side at all times. However, it is too often that we have ignored Him, refused to admit His love for us, and even rejected His generous offer of forgiveness, mercy and compassion.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all need to reassess how we have lived our lives thus far. If we have not placed God at the centre of our lives and existence, then we seriously need to consider what we have just discussed earlier on. Is God at the centre of our lives and existence? And is He our focus and direction in life? Let us all seek the Lord from now on with renewed vigour and spirit, knowing that in Him alone that we will be able to find true joy and everlasting happiness. May the Lord be our guide and help us to find the right path in life. Amen.