Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Sunday, 11 August 2013 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, we are urged through the readings we listened to, that we must be ever ready, ever ready for the coming of Christ our Lord, who will come at the end of time, to judge all things living and dead, in the final judgment, when those who are upright and do the will of God, will be rewarded, and those who are wicked, will meet their due punishment.

Our Lord Jesus who has ascended into heaven at the end of His ministry on earth, will come again at the end of time, as a victorious and conquering King of all Kings, and He will judge all creation, all mankind, for our virtues, our goodness, our faults, and our sins. He had promised us through His disciples, that He will come again and bring us back into His kingdom, to be with Him for eternity, in eternal happiness and true joy.

Yes, as He had promised Abraham and his descendants, He had also promised all of us, who shared Abraham as our father in faith, that He will give His grace and blessings upon all of us. To us had been granted much, and therefore much is also expected from us. That is because, the Lord had made His covenant with all of us, to renew the covenant He had made with Abraham, through the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus on the cross, with which He made a new covenant sealed with His Most Precious Blood.

Our Lord remains ever faithful, ever loving, and ever forgiving in His dealings with all of us, who are His most beloved children. He had sent His Son Jesus to be our Saviour, to break us free from the chains of sin and its slavery. He had redeemed us from Satan with the price of His own Blood. But a covenant requires all of us to also play our part, that is to contribute to the covenant we had made with God through Christ His Son.

How do we then take part in this holy covenant of God? It is not easy, brothers and sisters, because He requires our ultimate obedience and dedication to Him and His laws, His precepts, and all of His love. To put it in simple words, we need to obey the Lord and follow Christ, through whom God had made clear to us His intentions, the plan He had for us and this world. In following Christ, we have to carry our crosses and walk with Him, enduring much opposition, suffering, and persecution, especially from the forces of evil, who do not wish to see us redeemed and steered away from destruction.

To follow Christ means to love one another, to love everyone around us, our brothers and sisters, without exception, and to pour onto them our care and compassion, giving to them our unconditional love, as Christ had once done to us, through His death on the cross. And of course, we must also love the Lord our God, with all our hearts and with all of our strength, that we offer Him our full devotion, our full attention, and our wholesome love, without exception, to put Him first before every other things.

As I had mentioned, much had been given to us, and therefore much is also expected from us in return. God our Lord had entrusted this world and all in it to us when He created our ancestors. He gave us this world that we may be its steward, care for it, and be responsible for it. He had given us gifts and blessings in ourselves, and through the Holy Spirit, we have been strengthened with the fruits of His love. These gifts are within each one of us, our talents, our skills, and our uniqueness, which may be used for myriad purposes and different intentions.

We have to cultivate these gifts and nurture them, that the talents and the skills God had given us will grow, and be made manifest in this world, by our service and dedication to our fellow men, our fellow brothers and sisters, children of the same God, giving to them, to one another, the love, the hope, and the faith we have inside of us. If we share our love, faith, and hope, they will only grow and blossom. We have to practice our faith, brothers and sisters in Christ, and our good works for the sake of our brethren, that our faith may be alive.

Yes, the faith we have in God must be a living and vibrant faith, one nurtured with love, one filled with action based on the teachings of our Lord. If we have this living faith within us, like the faith had by our father Abraham, who followed the Lord with zeal and full trust in His providence, we will be rewarded just as our father Abraham was rewarded for his strong and undimmed faith, for his real, living, and vibrant faith.

Do not be caught unawares, brothers and sisters, when Christ comes again in all His glory, in His Second Coming at the end of time. We do not know when this will happen, and indeed, He will come at the time when we are at our most unprepared state, when we did not expect Him to come at all. He will come silently like a thief and He will then judge us, all of us, whether we have been faithful to Him and His commandments or whether we have turned away from Him and His path.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us heed the call that Christ had made to all of us, to follow Him and remain in His love, by showing Him a constant and vibrant faith, and our wholehearted dedication and devotion, our undivided love and attention for Him, and for all His children, our fellow brethren in God. Be prepared at all times for Him, that we will always be ready when He comes again, and not be found wanting for our faith.

Let us from today, dedicate ourselves and renew our commitment to Him, and to our fellow brothers and sisters, helping one another in our journey towards the Lord our God. We hope that everyone will be able to reach the end of our journeys successfully and that the Lord our God will welcome us and congratulate us for our dedication and our faith in Him, granting us the reward He had promised us through Jesus Christ, His Son. Let us not be the ones rejected by the Lord, because they did not bother to lift a finger, to help those in need, and to give themselves in love to their brethren in need. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 August 2013 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 12 : 32-48

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, and an inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Be ready, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit, like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding. As soon as he comes and knocks, they will open the door to him. Happy are those servants whom the master finds wide-awake when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will put on an apron, and have them sit at table, and he will wait on them. Happy are those servants, if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or daybreak!

Pay attention to this : If the master of the house had known at what time the thief would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

Peter said, “Lord, did You tell this parable only for us, or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Imagine, then, the wise and faithful steward, whom the master sets over his other servants to give them wheat at the proper time. Fortunate is this servant if his master on coming home, finds him doing his work. Truly, I say to you, the master will put him in charge of all his property.”

“But it may be that the steward thinks, ‘My Lord delays in coming,’ and he begins to abuse the male servants and the servant girls, eating and drinking and getting drunk. Then the master will come on a day he does not expect, and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him off, and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.”

“The servant who knew his master’s will, but did not prepare and do what his master wanted, will be soundly beaten; but the one who does unconsciously what deserves punishment, shall receive fewer blows. Much will be required of the one who has been given much, and more will be asked of the one who has been entrusted with more.”

 

Alternative reading (Shorter version)
Luke 12 : 35-40

Be ready, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit, like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding. As soon as he comes and knocks, they will open the door to him. Happy are those servants whom the master finds wide-awake when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will put on an apron, and have them sit at table, and he will wait on them. Happy are those servants, if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or daybreak!

Pay attention to this : If the master of the house had known at what time the thief would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

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Sunday, 11 August 2013 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 11 : 1-2, 8-19

Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see. Because of their faith our ancestors were approved.

It was by faith that Abraham, called by God, set out for a country that would be given to him as an inheritance; for he parted without knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as a stranger in that promised land. There he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, beneficiaries of the same promise. Indeed, he looked forward to that city of solid foundation of which God is the architect and builder.

By faith Sarah herself received power to become a mother, in spite of her advanced age; since she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful. Therefore, from an almost impotent man were born descendants as numerous as the stars of heavens, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Death found all these people strong in their faith. They had not received what was promised, but they had looked ahead and had rejoiced in it from afar, saying that they were foreigners and travellers on earth. Those who speak in this way prove that they are looking for their own country. For if they had longed for the land they had left, it would have been easy for them to return, but no, they aspired to a better city, that is, a supernatural one; so God, who prepared the city for them is not ashamed of being called their God.

By faith Abraham went to offer Isaac when God tested him. And so he who had received the promise of God offered his only son although God had told him : Isaac’s descendants will bear your name. Abraham reasoned that God is capable even of raising the dead, and he received back his son, which has a figurative meaning.

 

Alternative reading (Shorter version)

 

Hebrews 11 : 1-2, 8-12

Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see. Because of their faith our ancestors were approved.

It was by faith that Abraham, called by God, set out for a country that would be given to him as an inheritance; for he parted without knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as a stranger in that promised land. There he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, beneficiaries of the same promise. Indeed, he looked forward to that city of solid foundation of which God is the architect and builder.

By faith Sarah herself received power to become a mother, in spite of her advanced age; since she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful. Therefore, from an almost impotent man were born descendants as numerous as the stars of heavens, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

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Sunday, 11 August 2013 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 32 : 1 and 12, 18-19, 20 and 22

Rejoice in the Lord, you who are just, praise is fitting for the upright. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord – the people He has chosen for His inheritance.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving-kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

In hope we wait for the Lord, for He is our help and our shield. O Lord, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.

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Sunday, 11 August 2013 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Wisdom 18 : 6-9

That night had been foretold to our ancestors, and knowing in what promise they trusted, they could rejoice in all surety.

Your people waited for both the salvation of the just and the downfall of their enemies, for the very punishment of our enemies brought glory to the people You have called – that is, to us.

The holy race secretly offered the Passover sacrifice and really agreed on this worthy pact : that they would share alike both blessings and dangers. And forthwith they began to sing the hymns of their fathers.

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord today warns us against the sin of greed, the sin of pride, and the sin of selfishness. Especially in the aimless accumulation of wealth and accumulation of possessions, that we lose sight of the true aim in our life, that is our Lord and God. Wealth and accumulation are well-known sources of temptations that can divert us and our attention away from the path to salvation, that is the path to God.

The Lord also reminded us that we are mortals, mortals because of the original sins of our ancestors, and we are dust, because we are created from dust. Yet, though we are dust, we have life in us because the Lord breathed into us the breath of life, that is the Spirit of life. Yet, we still have limit in our lives in this world. Our lives are temporary, and everyone will eventually meet the end of their respective lives, at the appointed time that God has for all of us.

That is why, the Lord always stresses the importance of being ever vigilant in our lives, to always lead a righteous and upright life, filled with love and obedience to the will of God. We may be mortal and our lives may be short, but if we put our faith and complete trust in God, we will be immortals! Why? That is because the Lord had promised all of us salvation through His Son, and with the Risen Lord Jesus, we too will be reborn to a new life, and receive at the end of our earthly lives, new and eternal life in the glory and bliss of God’s heavenly kingdom.

Yes, that is our inheritance, brothers and sisters in Christ, the true inheritance that we will receive from the Lord, that He had promised us, and Christ His Son had made available to all of us through His death and resurrection from the dead. It is important that we seek the true treasure and not false treasures of the world. Seek what brings us true happiness, the true happiness that only God can give.

We have to choose brothers and sisters, just because we cannot serve two masters as Christ had made it clear to His disciples, we too have to choose between the wealth of the world, and the eternal wealth of the Lord. It does not mean that one is entirely in opposition to the other though. It does not mean that we have to impoverish ourselves of one while we seek the other. What is important is, that we know that ultimately, the wealth and possessions of this world serve only a temporary purpose, bring only a temporary satisfaction, and only temporary pleasure and happiness, while the wealth that we have in God is eternal, and is perfectly and completely satisfying to all of us.

Yes, we can be both rich in this world and in the world after, that is in the eyes of man, and in the eyes of God. That is if we are able to wisely use whatever had been given to us, and look beyond the temptations of the evil one and the allure of wealth, and also to be able to look beyond ourselves and our own desires and needs, to see the true use and function of the wealth and possessions we have received in this world.

We must never ever have the mentality of selfishness in ourselves, and only thinking about our own benefits and happiness, especially at the expense of others, which usually happen when we begin to put our own interests first. We must not be like the rich man who wasted his time in this world worrying about his own future and thus accumulated much wealth which he stored in barns and storage spaces, that he would, in his mind, think that he has a secure and prosperous future to be spent in happiness.

Yes, I want to again stress of our own mortality and the fragility of our own lives. It is unwise to spend so much time worrying about the future and then close ourselves from any concerns beside concerns for ourselves. We do not know when our death will be, nor in what way our death will come to us. It will come to us whenever we are most unprepared, just as the Second Coming of Christ will be. The time is appointed by the Lord, and we have no way to know about it.

Many of us are obsessed with maintaining our beauty, our lives and attempting to even make it better whenever possible. Plastic surgery, and even genetic manipulations to ensure that we can live longer and live more prosperously, gaining more fame through beauty and our possessions. Yet what do these all do? These things will not ensure our beauty nor our prosperity forever. If death knocks at our door tomorrow, despite all these things that we do, would they not all be wasted?

Much more resources should have been allocated to other, better purposes in our lives. It is not that we cannot indulge ourselves or bring happiness to ourselves, but we must never be consumed by our search for such wealth or happiness, that we forget about everything else, about those beloved to us, about God, and about everyone around us who needs us, who needs our love, care, and compassion.

Our wealth in this world is also not permanent. Many things may happen that can wipe out all of our hard-earned savings and ‘happiness’ in an instant, and after that a lifetime of work may be wasted. Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods, fires, and many other natural calamities that may happen anytime in our world unexpectedly, will wipe out most of our hard work if not all in much shorter time than that required to gather them.

And yes, death. What would those goods stored in barns and storages do if we die at the time appointed for us to die? Will they be able to provide anything for us in the afterlife? Or perhaps help us to climb from hell into paradise? No, they have not such power. Only God has such power, that is through Christ His Son, whose death had provided us all with a means to reach the true reward, that is everlasting life.

Seek not to build wealth that can be destroyed or wealth that can be stolen or disappear any moment, with or without our knowledge. Seek not wealth or pleasure that are short-lived and temporary, and disappear as quickly as the fleeting motion of our short, mortal lives on earth. Seek rather the eternal wealth and treasure in God, in heaven, that will never disappear, that will never expire, and that will never be destroyed. Let us all, while we still have the time, begin and continue to build our treasury in heaven, filling up with the wealth of our true treasure, that is love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow the advice of the Lord, and begin from today, to open the storage of the things we have kept only for ourselves, and offer them to everyone in need. No, I am not just talking about money, wealth, or material possessions. Most important of all treasures is love itself, which God has placed in all of us, but we like to lock it deep within our hearts, that it does not become visible or evident. The same happens to faith and hope.

As long as we remain shut to the world and to the love of God and the plight of others, our wealth in God will never grow, because we never make use the gifts that God had given us and bless us with, that is in His Holy Spirit. If we exercise the faith, the hope, and the love He had given all of us through the Spirit, it will grow and multiply, thirty, sixty, hundredfold and more. Let us begin from today, if we have not done so, to invest in the building of our wealth in heaven, that when we are called back to God, He will truly see us as wealthy in His eyes. Not the wealth of the world, but the true and undiminished wealth of love.

May the Lord inflame in us the fire of His love, and may He push us to go out and render our service to others who are in need of our help and our love. May we be able to share our love with one another, as fellow children of God who loves us. God bless us all, always and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 12 : 13-21

Someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed Me as your judge or your attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”

And Jesus continued with this story, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know what I shall do : I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself : My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell me who shall get all you have put aside?’

This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Colossians 3 : 1-5, 9-11

So them, if you are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on earthly things. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, reveals Himself, you also will be revealed with Him in Glory.

Therefore, put to death what is earthly in your life, that is immorality, impurity, inordinate passions, wicked desires, and greed which is a way of worshipping idols.

Do not lie to one another. You have been stripped of the old self and its way of thinking to put on the new, which is being renewed and is to reach perfect knowledge and the likeness of its creator. There is no room for distinction between Greek of Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, foreigner, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 89 : 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of the Lord be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ecclesiastes 1 : 2 and Ecclesiastes 2 : 21-23

All is meaningless – says the Teacher – meaningless, meaningless!

For here was a man who toiled in all wisdom, knowledge, and skill and he must leave all to someone who has not worked for it. This is meaningless and a great misfortune. For what profit is there for a man in all his work and heartsearching under the sun? All his days bring sorrow, his work grief; he has not, moreover, peaceful rest at night : that too is meaningless.