Sunday Mass

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Sunday, 17 November 2024 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 15 : 5 and 8, 9-10, 11

O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.

I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.

My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured.

For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.

You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever.

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Sunday, 17 November 2024 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Daniel 12 : 1-3

At that time, Michael will rise, the Great Commander who defends your people. It shall be a time of anguish as never before, since the nations first existed until this very day. Then, all those, whose names are written in the book, will be saved.

Many of those who sleep in the Region of the Dust will awake, some to everlasting life but others to eternal horror and shame. Those who acquired knowledge will shine, like the brilliance of the firmament; those who taught people to be just will shine, like the stars, for all eternity.

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Sunday, 10 November 2024 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to be generous in loving others and to be kind upon everyone around us, and for us to give generously from our hearts, and to heed the plight and sufferings from those who are less fortunate than us, especially so if we are in the position to help and assist our fellow brothers and sisters. Especially as Christians we are always reminded to be full of love firstly for the Lord, and then also to be full of the same love towards our fellow brothers and sisters around us. We should not ignore that calling and the opportunity for us to reach out to others who are in need, to show generous love through our daily actions and living.

In our first reading this Sunday, taken from the First Book of Kings of Israel and Judah, we heard the story of the prophet Elijah who had been sent to the town of Zarephath away from the land of Israel at the time when the land of Israel was experiencing great drought and famine due to the sins of the Israelites and their king Ahab, who was wicked in his actions and who disobeyed God. The prophet Elijah went to the town of Zarephath and encountered a widow there who was struggling to make a living for herself and her son amidst the great drought and famine, and it was then that the prophet Elijah asked the widow for some food, to which the widow replied that she barely had any food left for herself and for her son, which she was going to make for them to prepare for their impending deaths from the famine.

It was then that the prophet Elijah reassured the widow of God’s love and providence, and that she should trust his words and the assurances of the Lord, that in her generosity and goodwill, she would be well taken care of by the Lord, since no one who had shown love and kindness on God’s servants would be ignored or abandoned by God. And hence, as the woman willingly shared her share of food, making bread for Elijah, the messenger of God to eat, sharing from her own lack of food and poverty, Elijah showed her God’s power and providence just as he had said, that the jug of oil and the flour would not run out till the day rain returned to the land of Israel and the famine disappeared from the land and the area. Through this story, we are all reminded that we can still love and be generous even when we are lacking and in need ourselves, and God will remember us for all this love we have shown this way.

Then, in our second reading this Sunday, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard about the author of the Epistle telling the faithful from Jewish background and origin, of the role that Christ, the Saviour of all the whole world had played in our salvation, by His coming into the world as the Son of God, manifested and incarnate in the flesh, appearing before us all and showing us all God’s ever generous and tender love, to be our one True and Eternal High Priest, willingly taking up upon Himself the punishments and the consequences due to our many and innumerable sins. Through His ever generous and wonderful love, God has opened the doors of His mercy and salvation to all of us through His Son, through the breaking of His Body and the shedding of His Blood, by which He made us all to be righteous and to have our sins atoned for completely.

And we heard how the author explained that the Lord had done this once and for all, offering Himself as the perfect and worthy sacrifice in atonement for all of our sins, and He did all these while shedding all of His glory and majesty, having chosen to become the lowest and most despicable of all things to share His ultimate and most powerful and enduring love with us, love that is most generous, unconditional and perfect, teaching and showing all of us what it truly means for us to love, to have this love for others around us, to be truly selfless and generous in loving everyone and not just ourselves. And He showed this to us, to continue to reassure and strengthen us, reminding us that He will always be with us, journeying by our side through all the struggles and difficulties.

In our Gospel passage this Sunday, we heard of the words of the Lord from the Gospel according to St. Mark in which He praised the great faith and generosity of a poor old widow who gave donation from her own poverty, a tiny amount of two copper coins, as compared to the rich donations of the many other people around her. In saying so, the Lord was not in fact being biased against the rich and those who have given a lot of money, as those people could have also been genuinely generous and full of love towards others. Rather, what the Lord was trying to point out to His disciples and to all of us is that generosity and love is something that we should never try to quantify or compare. We should not try to compare to see who have given more or who would be rewarded more, but rather focus on doing what we can, and share what we are capable of sharing for the benefit of others around us.

This means that like the old widow of Zarephath and the old woman at the Temple, who have given generously from even their own poverty, when they themselves were lacking, we should always be ready to share our blessings and whatever we have, not counting whether it will profit us or affect us financially, but giving and sharing because we truly care and want to help others. Of course at the same time we should also be prudent and mindful that what we share do not end up causing difficulties and hardships for ourselves and those who are under our care like our families and children, our parents and others as well. Essentially, we are all called to love generously and constantly at all times, to be prudent in making good use of the blessings and opportunities which we have been given by God, be it plenty or little, more or less that we have been blessed with.

As Christians, let us all continue to love generously and sincerely, following the examples of the Lord Himself, Who has loved us so patiently and generously even when we have not loved Him, forgotten about Him and disregarded His kindness, compassion, mercy and love. Let us all learn to love generously like Christ our Lord, and to love one another as He has loved us, and of course to love Him most consistently and with greater faith and dedication as we should have done. Let us all continue to carry out our daily actions and works with love, to be truly exemplary in showing care and concern towards one another, particularly to our brothers and sisters around us who are less fortunate and suffering, those who are unloved and neglected by the society.

May the Lord, our most loving, compassionate and generous God continue to show His love towards us, His beloved children and people, and may He continue to inspire all of us to love Him and to love our fellow brethren as well, to love ever more generously and sincerely at all times. In the words of the Prayer of Generosity of St. Ignatius of Loyola, let us all pray : Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve You as You deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to seek for reward, save that of knowing that I do Your most holy will.’

May all of us be truly full of love and compassion, kindness and mercy, care and concern, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 10 November 2024 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 12 : 38-44

At that time, as Jesus was teaching, He also said to His disciples, “Beware of those teachers of the Law, who enjoy walking around in long robes and being greeted in the marketplace, and who like to occupy reserved seats in the synagogues, and the first places at feasts. They even devour the widow’s and the orphan’s goods while making a show of long prayers. How severe a sentence they will receive!”

Jesus sat down opposite the Temple treasury, and watched the people dropping money into the treasury box; and many rich people put in large offerings. But a poor widow also cane and dropped in two small coins. Then Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those who gave offerings. For all of them gave from their plenty, but she gave from her poverty, and put in everything she had, her very living.”

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Mark 12 : 41-44

Jesus sat down opposite the Temple treasury, and watched the people dropping money into the treasury box; and many rich people put in large offerings. But a poor widow also cane and dropped in two small coins.

Then Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those who gave offerings. For all of them gave from their plenty, but she gave from her poverty, and put in everything she had, her very living.”

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Sunday, 10 November 2024 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 9 : 24-28

Christ did not enter some sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the True One, but Heaven itself. He is now in the presence of God, on our behalf. He had not to offer Himself many times, as the High Priest does : he, who, may return every year, because the blood is not his own. Otherwise, He would have suffered many times, from the creation of the world.

But no; He manifested Himself only now, at the end of the ages, to take away sin by sacrifice, and, as humans die only once, and afterward are judged, in the same way, Christ sacrificed Himself, once to take away the sins of the multitude. There will be no further question of sin, when He comes again, to save those waiting for Him.

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Sunday, 10 November 2024 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 145 : 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10

The Lord is forever faithful; He gives justice to the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.

The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord straightens the bent. The Lord loves the virtuous, but He brings to ruin the way of the wicked. The Lord protects the stranger.

He sustains the widow and the orphan. The Lord will reign forever, your God, o Zion, from generation to generation. Alleluia!

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Sunday, 10 November 2024 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 17 : 10-16

So Elijah went to Zarephath. On reaching the gate of the town, he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink.”

As she was going to bring it, he called after her and said, “Bring me also a piece of bread.” But she answered, “As YHVH your God lives, I have no bread left, but only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am just now gathering some sticks so that I may go in and prepare something for myself and my son to eat – and die.”

Elijah then said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go, and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me. Then make some for yourself and your son. For this is the word of YHVH, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of meal shall not be emptied nor shall the jug of oil fail, until the day when YHVH sends rain to the earth.’”

So she went and did as Elijah told her; and she had food for herself, Elijah and her son from that day on. The jar of flour was not emptied nor did the jug of oil fail, in accordance with what YHVH had said through Elijah.

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Sunday, 3 November 2024 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday all of us as God’s holy and beloved people, as Christians, we are all called to remember that our most important mission in life is to obey the will of God and to obey and fulfil His Law and commandments, everything which He has entrusted and provided to us so that we may find our way towards Him with assurance and guarantee amidst all the distractions, temptations, pressures, coercions and all the things which had often misled so many among our predecessors down the wrong and wicked paths in life, away from God and His salvation. As Christians, all of us have received the truth of God, His Good News through His Church, and also His love manifested to us through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

From our first reading this Sunday, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, in which the Lord told His people, the Israelites during the time of their Exodus and journey from the land of Egypt to the land that He has promised to them, we have heard of the Lord speaking to all of them through Moses, exhorting and encouraging them to remain true and faithful to the Law, commandments and rules which He had set before them, so that they may truly obey them and do not fall into the path towards damnation, which the devil and all of his fellow forces of evil have always been active in trying to lead us into those slippery slopes and traps that they have laid in the path of those who are faithful to God and many others. But God has always been full of love for His people, and He has always been patient in helping and guiding us to overcome our troubles and difficulties, the challenges and problems we face in our respective paths and journeys.

The Lord reminded His people that as long as they all faithfully kept His commandments and observed them wholeheartedly, loving Him above all else and doing what He has taught and shown them, in how He has generously and constantly loved them, in how they interacted with one another, then they would continue to walk under His grace and protection, and His blessings and wonderful guidance, providence and help would continue to shelter and aid them in their moments and times of need. The Lord has repeatedly proven His love and faithfulness many times, and yet, many among those people whom God had loved so much, still hardened their hearts and minds, rebelled against Him and refused to believe in Him or follow Him.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because of our own pride and arrogance, our thinking and perception that we know what we are doing and that we ourselves can be in charge of our paths and that we know it better, even than the Lord’s words, wisdom and guidance. Many of those Israelites and their descendants afterwards, and many other people throughout history had fallen into this path of disobedience and rebellion against God as they trusted more in their own intellect, power, wisdom and understanding of the Law, twisting the Law, the commandments and rules of God to serve their own purposes, ambitions and desires instead of to help them to love the Lord more as the Law had been intended by God. By the time of the coming of the salvation of God through His Son, about two millennia ago, the Law of God had become so different in how it has been practiced as compared to God’s true intentions.

This is why in our Gospel passage today, we heard again another reminder from the Lord to us, through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was answering and responding to the question from a teacher of the Law who had been asking Him regarding which Law would be the most important among all the Law and commandments of God. By the time of the Lord Jesus and His ministry, there were no less than six hundred and thirteen precepts, rules and laws, which were contained in the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament, where the Lord passed down those Law and commandments through Moses. But on top of what God had passed down, those Law and commandments had gone through extensive modification, amendments, changes and adaptations by the people.

Most importantly, even since the day and time of Moses, many amendments and adjustments had been made to adjust to the people’s stubborn attitudes, and their refusal to obey to the Lord, and as the Law was passed down through the centuries, and especially by the time of the Lord Jesus, there were those who sought to interpret and the Law very strictly according to the customs and traditions practiced by the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, and worse still, many of them no longer understood or appreciated why the Lord gave the Law to His people in the first place. Some like the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the Law were so fixated on obeying the full details, tenets and rites of the Law, in all of its vast complexities, that they obsessed over and idolised this careful observance they had on the Law, and persecuted those who did not follow the Law in the same way as them.

And thus the Lord reminded all of His people that the Law was meant for one and only one thing, that is for love, and to teach us all how to love. First and foremost, it is meant to help us to know how to love the Lord our God once again, to put Him always first and foremost in our lives, and not to be distracted by the love of all other worldly desires, pursuits, attachments and ambitions that had often distracted, pulled and tempted us away from the ability to truly love the Lord and prioritise Him in our lives. And at the same time, we are also expected to show the same love in all of our actions, works and deeds, in our every interactions with one another, to be truly generous in loving our fellow brothers and sisters around us. Since God loves each and every one of us, how can we truly call ourselves His beloved children and people, if we hold hatred for others around us?

And the Lord Jesus Himself has shown us the perfect example of this obedience to the Law and of the way how we all should love each other. As mentioned in our second reading today from the Epistle to the Hebrews, He is our High Priest Who has offered on our behalf the perfect and most worthy offering of Himself as the Paschal Lamb, in obeying perfectly the will of His heavenly Father, to become the sacrifice to bring about atonement for our innumerable sins, and to reconcile each and every one of us to the Lord, our Master and Creator. And He did all these because He loved His Father, obeying Him out of love, and also for the same love which He has for every one of us without exception, that He has given to us by Him bearing the burdens and the brunt of our punishments for us, dying on the Cross for us so that by His death, we may be restored into life eternal.

Now, if the Lord, our most loving God, Father and Creator has loved us so much that He has given us all His only Begotten Son, to be our Saviour, to suffer and die for our sake so that we may be strengthened and reconciled to Him through this same Saviour, then all of us Christians, who have been called as such by our faith and trust in the promise of Christ, we all should also be filled with the same love, following in Christ’s own examples and actions, in loving God our Father first and foremost above all else, and in loving our fellow brothers and sisters around us, caring for the need of all those who are not as fortunate as us. We should always be genuine in our love, care and concern for everyone so that by our loving examples, we may truly be worthy to be called Christians, to be a people who are truly holy and beloved by God.

May the Lord continue to shower us all with His love as He has always done, and may He continue to stir in our hearts the desire to love others genuinely and generously at all times. May all the things we do in life, all the words we speak, the actions we carry out, all the interactions we have with one another always be done with love in the centre of everything that we say and do, to be the beacons of Christ’s light and love in all circumstances and in all places. May God bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, in everything that we do for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 November 2024 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 12 : 28b-34

At that time, a teacher of the Law came up and asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answered, “The first is : Hear, Israel! The Lord, our God is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes a second commandment : You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two.”

The teacher of the Law said to Him, “Well spoken, Master; You are right when You say that He is one, and there is no other besides Him. To love Him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”

Jesus approved of this answer and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask Him any more questions.

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Sunday, 3 November 2024 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 7 : 23-28

The former priests were many, since, as mortal men, they could not remain in office. But Jesus remains forever, and the priesthood shall not be taken from Him. Consequently, He is able to save, for all time, those who approach God, through Him. He always lives, to intercede on their behalf.

It was fitting, that our High Priest be holy, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens; a Priest, Who does not, first, need to offer sacrifice for Himself, before offering for the sins of the people; as high priests do. He offered Himself in sacrifice, once, and for all. And, whereas, the Law elected weak men as high priests, now, after the Law, the Word of God, with an oath, appointed the Son, made perfect forever.