Sunday Mass

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Sunday, 20 June 2021 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 4 : 35-41

At that time, on that same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

So they left the crowd, and took Him away in the boat He had been sitting in, and other boats set out with Him. Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

They woke Him up, and said, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”

But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

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Sunday, 20 June 2021 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 5 : 14-17

Indeed, the love of Christ holds us, and we realise, that, if He died for all, all have died. He died for all, so, that, those who live, may live no longer for themselves, but for Him, Who died, and rose again for them. And so, from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard Him in another way.

For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him, the old things have passed away; a new world has come.

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Sunday, 20 June 2021 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 106 : 23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31

Those who went to the sea in ships, merchants on the mighty waters, saw the marvels of YHVH, His wonderful deeds in the deep.

For He spoke and stirred up a storm, whipping up the waves of the sea. Flung upward and plunged to the depths, they lost courage in the ordeal.

Then they cried to YHVH in anguish; and He rescued them from their distress. He stilled the storm to a gentle breeze and hushed the billows, to silent waves.

How glad they were! He brought them safe and sound to the port where they were bound. Let them thank YHVH for His love and wondrous deeds for humans.

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Sunday, 20 June 2021 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Job 38 : 1, 8-11

Then YHVH answered Job out of the storm : “Who shut the sea behind closed doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling clothes; when I set its limits with doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘You will not go beyond these bounds; here is where your proud waves must halt?’”

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Sunday, 13 June 2021 : Eleventh 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 Scriptures, we heard the very obvious reference to the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of Heaven throughout today’s Scripture readings, that try to give us a glimpse and understanding of what the Kingdom of God is all about. God had made it known and revealed to all of us the truth about His kingdom, where all of His beloved people are truly welcome.

In our first reading today we heard of the vision of the prophet Ezekiel who received the Lord’s message of hope and encouragement for His people, that He would restore them and bless them again, with the example of the cedar used to represent the people of God, restored and allowed to prosper once again. This message of hope and encouragement must be understood especially given the context that the prophet Ezekiel lived during the period of great humiliation and trials for the people of God, who have been scattered, crushed and driven away from their homeland.

And all these were caused by their own disobedience against God, their sinful and wicked ways, disregarding the Law and the commandments that God had given them, and instead, giving themselves to the worship of pagan idols and gods, and committing acts that were in violation of the Law and the Covenant that God has established with them. As a result, they had to suffer the consequences of their lack of faith and disobedience, and they were humiliated and uprooted from their ancestral lands, their cities destroyed and the Temple overturned.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, God wanted us all to see and know that He wants us to be reconciled with us, although we may have been sundered and separated from Him through sin. God’s love ultimately will overcome even the darkest sin and the greatest of obstacles and challenges, as long as we are willing to embrace the Lord and accept His love and compassionate mercy. Unfortunately, more frequently than not, we close ourselves off to the Lord and refuse to accept His generous love and mercy.

St. Paul mentioned this same truth when he spoke in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, our second reading passage today, reiterating how all of us although living in the body but we are separated from the Lord. And as long as we are separated and distant from Him, we will not be able to gain true joy, happiness and satisfaction that we can gain in the Lord alone. He also reminded us all the faithful that our every actions and deeds will be held against us if they have been contrary to the will of God, and these will determine our fate on the day of judgment.

That is why through today’s Scripture readings, God revealed to us just how wretched and pitiful our situation is being separated from Him and His love. That is why, just like the Israelites of old, who had suffered the consequences of their disobedience and sins, He reminded us all that ultimately, He still loves each and every one of us and wants us to be fully reconciled to Him, and to be restored to the graceful life that we all have been intended to enjoy and which is part of our assured inheritance.

Hence, He gave us all His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be His best and most perfect gift to all of us, to be the source of all of our Hope and to be our guiding Light in this world darkened by sin. Through Him, God has brought His kingdom into this world, to be ruled by His own Son, Our Lord and King, Who brought and gathered all of us together to Himself, and Who has united all of us to Himself by assuming our own human nature. That is why He has also established God’s kingdom in this world, by establishing the Church, that manifestation of the kingdom of God on Earth.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, what the prophet Ezekiel heard from the Lord regarding the cedar that the Lord picked to grow on a high mountain is fulfilled through Christ in His Church, our very own One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the one and only true Church that God Himself has established in this world, as the real and tangible representation of His reign and kingdom, as what the Lord explained in our Gospel today through the parable, of a great tree with its vast branches, upon which many animals and birds perched and made as its home.

The Church blessed and sanctified by Christ, has been established as the symbol of unity among all of us, God’s beloved people, who share through Him and with Him a bond of unity and love, by our shared faith and love for God, and by our partaking of the New Covenant that God Himself has established with us. All of us are members of His Body, the visible Body of Christ, the kingdom of God manifested in this world as the proof of God’s reign and His love for the whole entire world, and His desire to see all of us mankind reunited and reconciled with Him.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the words of the Scripture today, we have to remind ourselves the important aspects of the Church, that is we are all One Church, all united in a common faith and love for God, a Holy Church that is always focused on the Lord and always obeying His will, His Law and commandments, a Catholic Church that is Universal in our reach and coverage, in welcoming all peoples regardless of their background, their race and origin, to come towards the Lord just as the great tree in the parable became a haven for all living beings.

And lastly, we have to be an Apostolic Church, that means we have to be a Church that is always reaching out and speaking up the truth of God, in being missionary and faithful, in being genuine in our way of life and faith, so that all those who see us, hear us and witness our actions and works will then come to know the Lord through us, and they may then also come to believe in Him through us. This is a calling and mission that all of us as Christians have, as part of our shared, common baptism, that as members of God’s Church, His kingdom on earth, we ought to glorify Him and made Him known to all.

Let us all not forget the Great Commission that the Lord has given to all of His Apostles and disciples in the end of His earthly journey, that we all ought to go forth to the nations, proclaiming His truth and love, and make all to be believers and faithful just as we believe in Him, to make disciples of all the peoples of all the nations and to baptise them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is so that more and more people may come to be part of the ever growing and ever expanding Church, God’s kingdom on Earth.

Let us ask ourselves then, brothers and sisters in Christ, whether we have done our part and done as we should as members of this wonderful kingdom of God? Or have we instead turned people away from the Lord and His Church by our own actions, filled with sin and wickedness, with selfishness and evil? These are the things that we really need to question ourselves and discern as we consider our path going forward in life. Are we going to continue living our lives walking in the path of sin and evil? Or are we going to allow the Lord to transform our lives to be His faithful servants and disciples?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all renew our faith to the Lord and commit ourselves wholeheartedly from now on, that we may be ever closer to Him and be ever more devoted and faithful to Him in all things. And as part of His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, let us all do whatever we can as part of His kingdom in this world, to call and bring ever more and more of our other brothers and sisters, to come to the Lord and be reconciled with Him, that everyone may come to know of God’s love and embrace Him as their Lord and Saviour, and be worthy together with all of us, to share in the divine and eternal banquet in Heaven.

May God bless us all and our every good works and endeavours, and may He strengthen each and every one of us with the courage and resolve to live ever more faithfully from now on, being good role models and inspirations of faith to one another. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 June 2021 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 4 : 26-34

At that time, Jesus also said, “In the kingdom of God it is like this : a man scatters seed upon the soil. Whether he is asleep or awake, be it day or night, the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how. The soil produces of itself : first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when it is ripe for harvesting, they take the sickle for the cutting : the time for the harvest has come.”

Jesus also said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall we compare it? It is like a mustard seed which, when sown, is the smallest of all the seeds scattered upon the soil. But once sown, it grows up and becomes the largest of the plants in the garden, and even grows branches so big, that the birds of the air can take shelter in its shade.”

Jesus used many such stories, in order to proclaim the word to them in a way that they would be able to understand. He would not teach them without parables; but privately to His disciples He explained everything.

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Sunday, 13 June 2021 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 5 : 6-10

So we feel confident always. We know, that, while living in the body, we are exiled from the Lord, living by faith, without seeing; but we dare to think, that we would rather be away from the body, to go and live with the Lord. So, whatever we have to keep this house or lose it, we only wish to please the Lord.

Anyway, we all have to appear before the tribunal of Christ, for each one to receive what he deserves, for his good or evil deeds in the present life.

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Sunday, 13 June 2021 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 91 : 2-3, 13-14, 15-16

It is good to give thanks to YHVH, to sing praise to Your Name, o Most High, to proclaim Your grace in the morning, to declare Your faithfulness at night.

The virtuous will flourish, like palm trees, they will thrive, like the cedars of Lebanon. Planted in the house of YHVH, they will prosper, in the courts of our God.

In old age, they will still bear fruit; they will stay fresh and green, to proclaim that YHVH is upright, “He is my Rock,” they say, “He never fails.”

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Sunday, 13 June 2021 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ezekiel 17 : 22-24

Thus says YHVH : “At the top of the cedar, I will take one of its uppermost branches, a tender twig, and plant it. On a lofty, massive mountain, on a high mountain of Israel I will plant it. It will produce branches and bear fruit and become a magnificent cedar. Birds of all kinds will nest in it and find shelter in its branches.”

“And all the trees of the field shall know that I am YHVH : I, Who bring down the lofty tree and make the lowly tree tall. I will make the tree that is full of sap, wither, and the dry tree, bloom. I, YHVH, have spoken and this will I do.”

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Sunday, 6 June 2021 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, also known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, celebrating this very important aspect of our faith that is central to our Christian beliefs. What is this central tenet and teaching, brothers and sisters? It is the belief that in the celebration of the Holy Mass, the Lord has appeared to us in the flesh and blood, in the Most Holy Eucharist at the Holy Sacrifice on the Altar. The bread and wine offered by the presider of the Mass has been turned into the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord.

This is the same belief that many of our separated brethren holding faithfully the Apostolic Tradition such as those in the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox churches also hold, as they all just like us, believe that the Lord is truly present in the Eucharist, in His complete presence, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, all entirely present in the bread and wine transformed in reality and matter into the matter and the nature of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. There are of course those who still deny this truth, claiming that the bread and wine are just merely symbolic or that they did not really turn into the Body and Blood of the Lord.

Some may come to think of that because although the bread in the Eucharistic host and the wine in the chalice remains in appearance, taste and our human recognition as bread and wine, but what is indiscernible by our human senses is the truth that by the same power and authority that the Lord has given to His Apostles, our bishops and priests who offered the bread and wine, had turned the bread and wine, by the Holy Spirit descending onto the gifts and offerings, they had been turned completely into the matter of the Body and Blood of Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

All the early Church fathers and the Ecumenical Councils, the Apostolic traditions and others concurred that the Eucharist is none other and nothing less than the Lord Himself truly present in all completeness and perfection, not just merely symbolic or spiritually present as argued by those who reject this truth. We believe in the Doctrine of the Transubstantiation, which means exactly what I had just elaborated slightly earlier on, that the bread and wine has been completely transformed in matter and reality, fully and perfectly into the Body and Blood of the Lord, although in the appearance it is to us still that of bread and wine.

In fact there is an important parallel here to Our Lord’s own Incarnation in the Flesh, as He assumed the form and existence of Man. In what is another very important tenet of our faith, we believe that Jesus Christ, is both Man and Divine, having two natures that are distinct and different from each other, and yet are perfectly and completely united in His one Person, inseparable and indivisible. The world may perceive Him as a Man, and He did indeed appear as a Man, but in truth, He is fully Divine as well, as He showed His disciples at the Transfiguration and after He has risen from the dead.

Therefore, in a similar manner, the bread and wine although they have the appearance of bread and wine, and yet unmistakably they are fully by nature and reality, the very essence, matter and Body and Blood of Our Lord. However, it goes further that the bread and wine has also been completely transformed and are no longer just mere bread or mere wine. This is what we have seen, known, understood and acknowledged with the eyes of faith. We have received the truth from God, and we believed in it, and we put our faith in Him, because we believe in His Real Presence in the Eucharist.

And this is where then we have to appreciate that the Lord has given us all an immeasurably great gift as He gave to us nothing less than His own Precious Body and Blood, to be shared amongst us and to be partaken as we become members of His Body, the Church of God. All of us who share in this Holy Communion are therefore said to be in Communion with one another, united as the visible Body of Christ, the Church, and those who have not partaken in this same Eucharist, are separated and sundered away from this Body of Christ, our separated brothers and sisters, some of whom did not acknowledge the truth of the Real Presence in the Eucharist.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, yet, that is exactly what the Lord has told all of us, His people, plainly and clearly. In our Gospel passage today, as He gathered His disciples for His Last Supper with them, He told all of them as He broke the bread and offered it and the wine to the Lord, that the bread, is His Body, and the wine, is His Blood, plain and clear, concise and precise, never mentioning once that what He had done was just something symbolic or something that is not real. The same bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of the Lord at the Last Supper, which was not yet complete that night, is the same bread and wine at the Holy Mass transformed into our Lord’s Real Presence.

When He spoke of Himself as the Bread of Life before the assembled people, in one of His teaching sessions, He also referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, and explicitly and clearly mentioned that His Body is real Food, and His Blood is real Drink, and these things He spoke clearly and precisely too, without being ambiguous or figurative, and He clearly referred to all those who share in His Body and Blood that they will enjoy eternal life and will not perish, but live wonderfully with God forevermore. That moment is a foreshadowing of what would happen at the Last Supper and the Passion of the Lord.

The Lord completed His offering, of His own Body and Blood, as the High Priest representing all of us mankind, and at the same time as the Lamb of Sacrifice Himself, the Paschal Lamb, brought to the Altar on Calvary on Good Friday, the Altar of the Cross. And those who thought mistakenly that the Holy Mass is a repeat or reenactment of the Sacrifice of the Lord on the Cross failed to understand that at every single celebration of the Holy Mass, by all priests, bishops, and even the Pope, all of these are the very same Sacrifice that Christ has performed at Calvary, on the Cross that He had died on.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, the Altar on which the priests celebrate the Eucharist is the same Altar of the Cross on Calvary, and the same Body and Blood shed and given to us is the same sacrifice made two millennia ago, for all time and all occasions, the same offering and Sacrifice of the Lord, the Eternal High Priest, Who through His representatives, the ordained ministers, in persona Christi, or in the person of Christ, performed the very same sacrifice of Calvary at every single celebration of the Holy Mass, without exception.

When the Lord told His disciples ‘to do this in memory of Me’ it was not merely a memorial as how some misunderstood it. Instead, through that act, the Lord had authorised and empowered His disciples and their successors to be the priests ordained in His ministry, to be His priests representing Him in offering the most worthy sacrifice, the sacrifice of Our Lord Himself on the Cross. They are to perform the same offering and sacrifice of Our Lord that every Mass we are in fact celebrating and commemorating Our Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death for our salvation.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ask ourselves, whether we have truly believed in the Lord’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, in His Most Precious and Holy Body and Blood that we celebrate every Mass, and which we share together as one Church, the one Body of Christ. Do we really appreciate God’s love given to us by the shedding of His Body and by the outpouring of His Blood? Remember that by His sacrifice, Our Lord has purchased us from our sins, and freed us from the certain destruction due to those sins.

If we truly believe in the Lord’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, then why we have not given Him the respect and worship that He truly deserves from us? Why have we instead acted as if the celebration of the Holy Mass is just like a mere ordinary gathering, and worse still, with inappropriate and profane music and attitudes unworthy of God? And how many of us also turned up at the Holy Mass unprepared both in body and soul, being dressed inappropriately and unrepentant from our sins?

There had been comments by those who had not believed in the Lord’s Real Presence, His Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist precisely because as Catholics, we ourselves have not acted in the manner fitting the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. If only that we ourselves have behaved ourselves and acted appropriately, there can be so many more people who will be convinced of the truth and come to believe in the Lord and in His Real Presence as well. That is why, as Christians, we have to understand our faith well and we have to live up an upright and good life in accordance to our faith.

We have to remember the love that God has shown all of us by His coming into the world in order to save all of us and seal with us a New and Everlasting Covenant, one that will last forever, undoing the effects of our sins. The Covenant of God was sealed by none other than the outpouring of the Blood of the Lamb of God, Christ Himself, Who surrendered Himself in perfect obedience and suffering, so that through Him, and by His suffering and death we may experience and receive the sure promise and guarantee of eternal life in glory and true happiness with God.

Today therefore, on this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, of Our Lord’s Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood, broken and shared with us, let us all reflect on Our Lord’s most generous and enduring love for us, and we should also reflect on our attitudes towards the Lord, truly present in His full Divinity, His presence in the Flesh in the bread and wine transformed into the essence and reality of His Being. Let us all truly profess faith in the belief of the Real Presence of Our Lord from now on, striving to do our best to glorify the Lord especially at every celebrations of the Holy Mass, where He is truly present before all of us.

And let us all also strive to make our lives holy and worthy, to be exemplary in our way of living, in the most Christian manner possible, that as we share in the Lord and receive Him in the Eucharist, we may truly be worthy to be the dwelling place of Our Lord, the Temples of the Holy Spirit, of His Real Presence entering into us and uniting with us, body and soul. May the Lord be with us always, through His Most Precious and Holy Body and Blood, that through Him we may be sanctified and made worthy, and in all things, we may become great role models and inspiration for one another. Amen.