Sunday Mass

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Sunday, 13 February 2022 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 6 : 17, 20-26

At that time, coming down the hill with His disciples, Jesus stood in an open plain. Many of His disciples were there, and a large crowd of people, who had come from all parts of Judea and Jerusalem, and from the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon.

Then, looking at His disciples, Jesus said, “Fortunate are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Fortunate are you, who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Fortunate are you, who weep now, for you will laugh.”

“Fortunate are you, when people hate you, when they reject you and insult you and number you among criminals, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. Remember, that is how the ancestors of the people treated the prophets.”

“But alas for you, who have wealth, for you have been comforted now. Alas for you, who are full, for you will go hungry. Alas for you, who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Alas for you, when people speak well of you, for that is how the ancestors of the people treated the false prophets.”

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Sunday, 13 February 2022 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 15 : 12, 16-20

Well, then, if Christ is preached as risen from the dead, how can some of you say, that there is no resurrection of the dead? If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin.

Also, those who fall asleep, in Christ, are lost. If it is only for this life, that we hope in Christ, we are the most unfortunate of all people. But no, Christ has been raised from the dead, and He comes before all those who have fallen asleep.

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Sunday, 13 February 2022 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the man who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of YHVH and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For YHVH knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Sunday, 13 February 2022 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Jeremiah 17 : 5-8

This is what YHVH says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings and depends on a mortal for his life, while his heart is drawn away from YHVH!”

He is like a bunch of thistles in dry land, in parched desert places, in a salt land where no one lives and who never finds happiness. Blessed is the man who puts his trust in YHVH and whose confidence is in Him! He is like a tree planted by the water, sending out its roots towards the stream. He has no fear when the heat comes, his leaves are always green; the year of drought is no problem and he can always bear fruit.

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Sunday, 6 February 2022 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are called to realise our calling and mission in life as Christians, as those whom God has called and chosen, to be the ones to carry out His will and to be the witnesses of His truth and love to all the people. As we heard from today’s Scripture readings, we are all called to follow in the footsteps of our courageous and faithful predecessors, those who have dedicated themselves and their lives to serve the Lord, to follow Him and to do their best for the greater glory of God.

In our first reading today, we heard the calling of the prophet Isaiah in a vision which he received, and in that vision he saw the Lord Himself seated on His Throne in Heaven, attended by the great Angels of God, the Seraphim who served the Lord at His presence. He saw all the great glory and majesty of God and was terrified at what he had seen. He was struck with great fear because not only that one ought not to look at the great glory of God, and as a sinner, Isaiah feared God’s wrath and retribution. He humbled himself and abased himself before the Lord.

But God reassured Isaiah and sent His Seraphim to bring the hot coal from the Altar of the heavenly Temple and touched that coal onto Isaiah’s mouth, his lips and tongue. Through that symbolic act, God sanctified and purified Isaiah, considering him worthy of seeing His glory and being there, and through that, God also reassured him and sent him to be the one that He had chosen to be the bearer of His truth and message, His Good News to the people of Israel. Isaiah answered firmly with faith, and henceforth, he did the works of the Lord wonderfully among His people.

In our Gospel passage today, we kind of see a similar story in which the Lord Jesus came to the Lake of Galilee and encountered the fishermen there who were busy with their works and among them were the brothers Simon and Andrew, as well as the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. It was this moment, which is also mentioned in the other Gospels, that the Lord called His first disciples, and those four would become four of His closest confidants, the Twelve Apostles. At that time, they were just simple fishermen at the Lake of Galilee.

Having gathered little or no fish despite a great effort over the night, they would not have hoped to gain much and they must have been disappointed. But the Lord Who was then teaching the people told them all to go again and gather the fishes, this time to put their nets just as He told them to. Simon was hesitant at first saying how their efforts all night long had borne little results, but he obeyed nonetheless, going forth into the deeper waters just as the Lord had told him to, and true enough, immediately they caught so many fishes that it almost sank the two boats they were on.

We heard how Simon and the other fishermen all bowed down before the Lord and especially Simon uttered how unworthy he was before the Lord, and how he was a sinner that was unworthy and not deserving of the Lord’s presence. But this did not stop the Lord from calling them to be His disciples, and in fact to be the closest ones to Him. He called them all to become the fishers of men, as those whom the Lord had chosen to be the ones to gather all the people to Himself. Through them, God would establish His Church and build the many Christian communities all around the world.

We can see the parallel in these two stories, and also in our second reading today taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. In that occasion, St. Paul mentioned to the faithful in Corinth how he himself had received the faith, as he received it through the Holy Spirit that he had been given, and through the hands of the Apostles, those same Apostles that God had called, and from them, St. Paul, who as Saul was once the greatest enemy of all Christians, gained great insight of the faith and of what he had been called to do, as fellow disciples of the Lord.

Therefore, today’s Scripture readings serve as very important reminders for each and every one of us that all of us have been called to follow the Lord and to be His disciples. All of us as Christians who have received and shared in the baptism, and having been initiated in the faith, all of us have a share in the mission that the Lord Himself has entrusted to His Church, to all of His Apostles and disciples. And yes, the same mission that God has given to His Church, we too have a part to play in that as well.

And what is this mission, brothers and sisters in Christ? If we recall in the Gospels, we will remember the Lord’s Great Commission to all the whole Church. He entrusted it to all of us to make disciples of all the nations and to baptise all in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is the mission that God has given and entrusted to us, and we should embrace this mission wholeheartedly and be inspired by the examples set by our holy predecessors, those whom God had called and chosen, and whom He had made worthy for that purpose.

It means that we should not be hesitant or worried that we are not qualified, capable or worthy of doing what the Lord had called us to do. We have to remember first and foremost that it is not us who decide whether we are worthy of God’s calling and works or not. It is God Himself Who will decide that, and He had frequently chosen His disciples and servants from among those whom many of us may consider or deem to be less than worthy. The four fishermen, Simon, Andrew, James and John for example, they were likely poor, illiterate and uneducated, and yet, God called them to do His great works.

Through many occasions in the history of the Church and the world, God had chosen those who were considered to be unworthy. He made them worthy and sent them forth, reassuring them of His guidance and strength, much as how He had sent out Isaiah to His people Israel. The same went for the Apostles themselves as mentioned, as well as for St. Paul mentioned in our second reading today, who was a great persecutor of Christians, as someone most unlikely to become a follower of Christ, and yet, in the end, became among the Lord’s greatest champion.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to ponder carefully on our lives, and discern what we are going to do with our lives to come. God has called on us to follow Him and to do His will, to be part of the efforts and works of His Church in proclaiming His Good News and salvation, His truth and love to more and more people all around the world. This is what we have been called to do, and we really should ask ourselves if we are willing and able to do what we can to serve the Lord to the best of our abilities.

We do not need to be afraid or to worry whether we are worthy of such a task. The Apostles themselves as I mentioned were simple, ordinary people, who were most likely even less educated and less worthy than us in the eyes of the world. And yet, we all know of the great deeds that they had done, of the great courage and faith that they had shown, in doing their best to serve the Lord, even to the point of laying down their lives for the Lord, in the midst of their ministry. Many of them suffered greatly for the Lord, but they took all those sufferings with fullness of faith and love for the Lord.

Let us all therefore be inspired by their examples, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we too may walk in their footsteps and doing whatever we can to glorify the Lord by our lives. Let our every actions, words and deeds be guided by our love for the Lord and let our every breath proclaim the glory of God from now on. May the Lord be with us all, and may all of us walk in His path with ever greater zeal and commitment, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 6 February 2022 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 5 : 1-11

At that time, one day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around Him listening to the word of God, He caught sight of two boats, left at the water’s edge by fishermen, now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There He sat, and continued to teach the crowd.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if You say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both almost to the point of sinking.

Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and followed Him, leaving everything.

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Sunday, 6 February 2022 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 15 : 1-11

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you and which you received and on which you stand firm. By that Gospel you are saved, provided that you hold to it as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain.

In the first place, I have passed on to you what I myself received that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterwards He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest.

Then He appeared to James and after that to all the Apostles. And last of all, He appeared to the most despicable of them, this is to me. For I am the last of the Apostles, and I do not even deserve to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me has not been without fruit. Far from it, I have toiled more than all of them, although, not I, rather the grace of God, in me.

Now, whether it was I or they, this, we preach, and this, you have believed.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

1 Corinthians 15 : 3-8, 11

In the first place, I have passed on to you what I myself received that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterwards He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest.

Then He appeared to James and after that to all the Apostles. And last of all, He appeared to the most despicable of them, this is to me. Now, whether it was I or they, this, we preach, and this, you have believed.

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Sunday, 6 February 2022 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 4-5, 7c-8

I thank You, o YHVH, 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 toward 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.

O YHVH, all kings on earth will give You praise, when they have heard Your words. They will celebrate the ways of YHVH, “Great is the glory of YHVH!”

You save me from the wrath of my foes, 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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Sunday, 6 February 2022 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 6 : 1-2a, 3-8

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; the train of His robe filled the Temple. Above Him were Seraphs, each with six wings.

They were calling to one another : “Holy, Holy, Holy is YHVH Sabaoth. All the earth is filled with His glory!” At the sound of their voices the foundations of the threshold shook and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said, “Poor me! I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, and yet I have seen the King, YHVH Sabaoth.”

Then one of the Seraphs flew to me; in his hands was a live coal which he had taken with tongs from the Altar. He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?” I answered, “Here I am. Send me!”

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Sunday, 30 January 2022 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures we are called to reflect on our calling as Christians, to be the followers and disciples of Our Lord, to do what God has taught us to do in following His commandments and His own examples. As Christians, all of us share in the same mission that God has entrusted to us, to His Church from its very foundation and beginning. This is what we have been called to do, to show our genuine love both for God and for our fellow men, our brothers and sisters.

In our first reading today, taken from the beginning of the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the Lord and His calling to the prophet Jeremiah, as He called him to become His servant and mouthpiece, to become the one chosen by God before he even knew it, to speak of God’s will and truth before the people of God. At that time, the prophet Jeremiah lived during the last years of the southern kingdom of Judah, at the time when the remaining people of God were beset by troubles and the threat of the destruction of their kingdom were looming large at them.

All of that were caused by their own disobedience against God, their refusal to listen to Him and in hardening their hearts and closing them from His love and mercy. They would rather remain in the state of sin and living in darkness than to follow the Lord, their God. Yet, God still patiently reached out to them and sent them His prophets, including that of Jeremiah to His people reminding them of His love and urging them to repent and turn away from their sins. He never gave up on them and still cared for them, because we are truly precious and beloved to Him.

That is the exact same sentiment shown in our Gospel passage today when we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus was in Nazareth, in His own hometown and how He was rejected by the people whom He had known from earlier in His life, from His childhood. At that time, the Lord returned to Nazareth after beginning His ministry and gathering some of His disciples, and He proclaimed the Word of God in the local synagogue, only for the people to doubt Him and slander Him just because they knew St. Joseph, His foster father and thought that it was impossible for a Man of such stature to gain such wisdom and power.

The Lord told all of them that it was because of this that in the past God had sent His servants like the prophet Elijah to minister to the people neighbouring the Israelites, who had more faith in the Lord than the people of Israel themselves. He used the example of the widow of Zarephath who welcomed Elijah during the years of the great famine and how she took care of him even though she herself and her son were themselves in great distress. God showed His providence and cared for them, and they showed us what it truly means to be those who believe in God. The same goes with the example of Naaman the Syrian as well, who humbled himself before the Lord and was healed by his faith, even though he initially had his reservations and doubts.

Through what we have heard from these examples we can clearly see that there are many opportunities for us to respond to God’s love, to all that God had given to us, His attention and care, His compassion and kindness, all that He had done to us even though we have often disobeyed Him, disregarded and even betrayed Him. So pure is God’s love for each one of us that even though He despises our sins, He did not despise us sinners, but wants us to be freed from the bonds of those sins and then be reconciled with Him.

That is why He has sent us His Son, Jesus Christ, the One rejected by His own townspeople and neighbours, to be our Saviour, to be the source of our renewed Hope and as the Light to lead us out from the darkness of sin. In Christ, we have seen the perfect manifestation of God’s ultimate and enduring love in the flesh, Love that never ends and Love that persists to the end of time. From the very beginning when He created us all out love, His love has endured, and through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, we have seen how God wants to share this love with us.

St. Paul reminds us in our second reading today, taken from the Epistle that he wrote to the Church and the faithful in Corinth of what love and true Christian love means. Love is patient, kind and without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. St. Paul revealed to us that this is what true Christian love is all about, love that first and foremost God Himself has shown us unconditionally, as He patiently loved us from the beginning even though He had to constantly endure our betrayals and ignorance, and the pain of seeing so many of the sons and daughters of mankind falling into eternal damnation, eternally separated from Him.

St. Paul also mentioned that no matter whatever power, gifts, talents, abilities, blessings and all that we have received and are endowed with, but if we have no love in us, then all these are meaningless and useless. Without love, then whatever we do are only for ourselves and have no merit whatsoever. As Christians, this is not what we have been taught to do. Instead, as Christians, love must be our second nature, and not only just loving ourselves, but more importantly, to love God and our fellow brothers and sisters just as much if not more than we have loved ourselves.

That is essentially we have been called to do, to remember how fortunate we are to have been beloved by God despite our past mistakes and transgressions. God has patiently guided us through our journey of life all these while, and He has always reached out to us whenever we are in need. He has never abandoned us even though we have often abandoned and ignored Him. For all that love, often we respond to His love with disobedience and sins, with immorality and lack of faith.

That is why this Sunday, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded of the obligation for us all to love, as something that as Christians we have to do in our lives. Just as God Himself has shown us His pure and perfect love, thus we should also love Him in the same way, giving an unconditional love and one that is genuine from our hearts. Many of us loved God conditionally, loving Him and seeking Him only when we need Him, but the moment we have no need for Him, we easily and quickly forgot about Him.

Then, in the same way, we must also love our fellow brothers and sisters, by caring for everyone we encounter in life regardless who they are. Yes, certainly we will love some people more than others, especially those who are precious and known to us, those in our families and among our close circle of friends. However, we must still also love even those who are strangers to us, those whom we encounter daily, and this includes even those who hate us and persecute us.

Remember what the Lord told His disciples in another occasion in the Gospels? He said that we must love our enemies and forgive them, and we have to pray for them, just as He Himself has prayed for them. Not least, Our Lord has forgiven and prayed for those who persecuted Him and condemned Him to death right from the Cross upon which He was hung during the time of His Passion and death. That is the proof of God’s ever present love for us, and just how unconditional and beautiful His love for us is. And if God has loved us in such a manner, should we not then love Him in the same way too?

Let us all realise that we have been given many opportunities to express our love for God and for one another, and we have to practice that love in our lives, as genuine Christians that are filled with God’s love and grace. Let us all love the Lord with all of our hearts and show the same love to our brethren especially those who are most in need of them, during these difficult and challenging times when what some people need are just more care and attention, and some consolation for their sufferings and troubles. Let us all share God’s love with one another, following in the examples that Our Lord Himself has shown us. Amen.