Sunday of the Lord

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Sunday, 30 October 2022 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 144 : 1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13cd-14

I will extol You, my God and King; I will bless Your Name forever. I will praise You day after day and exalt Your Name forever.

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

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

The Lord is true to His promises and lets His mercy show in all He does. The Lord lifts up those who are falling and raises those who are beaten down.

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Sunday, 30 October 2022 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Wisdom 11 : 22 – Wisdom 12 : 2

For the entire world lies before you, just enough to tip the scales, a drop of morning dew falling on the ground. But because You are almighty, You are merciful to all; You overlook sins and give Your children time to repent. You love everything that exists and hate nothing that You have made; had You hated anything, You would not have formed it.

How could anything endure if You did not will it? And how could anything last that You had not willed? You have compassion on all because all is Yours, o Lord, Lover of life. In fact, Your immortal Spirit is in all. And so by degrees You correct those who sin, You admonish them, reminding them how they have strayed so that turning away from evil they may trust in You, Lord.

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Sunday, 23 October 2022 : Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us heard of the reminder that pride and ego, hubris and ambition have no place amongst us Christians and those things will only lead to our downfall and doom, if we allow those to control our lives and our actions. We have been shown and taught what it truly means to be Christians, in our daily living and actions, and if we take heed of what the Lord had reminded us, through the Scripture passages today, we should do our best to do His will, and to be humble and be focused on Him, and not to give in to the temptations of our human pride and desire, which had become the bane and the obstacle for so many of our fellow brothers and sisters, past and present.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Sirach, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking on how He listened to the prayers of the faithful and how He uplifted and strengthened the humble and the just, while at the same time, God condemns and crushes those who were proud and mighty, those who oppressed others and who did not live their lives in accordance with His ways. He judged unworthy those who were merciless and those who have treated their brethren with disdain and lack of respect, those who have acted with violence upon others and those who have exploited their fellow men. All these have no place in God’s Kingdom and Presence.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard the parable which the Lord Jesus mentioned regarding the tax collector and the Pharisee, in which both were praying at the same time at the House of God. We heard how the Pharisee looked down upon his fellow man, the tax collector, considering him as a sinner while praising his own self-righteousness and virtues, as was common at that time. Back then, the Pharisees were considered the elites of the Jewish society, very well-respected and even feared by the other members of the community for their knowledge, intellect, power and influence.

On the other hand, the tax collectors were often ostracised and prejudiced against for their work in collecting taxes for the rulers and for the Romans. They were seen as great sinners and greedy people unworthy of God and His salvation, and they were often shunned by the community, especially hated and rejected by the Pharisees and the elders, who saw them as abominations and traitors to the nation. As such, this prejudice was shown in the Lord’s parable, as He highlighted the folly of such prejudice and narrow-sighted and narrow-minded attitude. The tax collector, fully aware of his sins, was not even willing to look up, embarrassed and shamed by his sins, while the Pharisee, though a sinner himself, lauded his achievements and not only that, but also slandered others before God.

That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is how dangerous pride and ego is for us, as well as human desire and greed. The Pharisee in the parable fell to the trap of his own pride, thinking that he was better than the tax collector, and in doing so, he turned inwards, focusing on himself and his own achievements, which resulted in his prideful and self-congratulatory attitude, which led to him being focused so much on himself and so full of himself, that he failed to see that he himself was also a sinner like the tax collector requiring God’s mercy and redemption. Instead, he thought that everything he did made him worthy of God and that he was superior than others who did less than what he had done.

This is not what each one of us as Christians should be doing. As Christians, all of us have been shown and taught by the Lord, first and foremost to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all of our might, and not to love ourselves more than how we love God and others. As Christians we are called and in fact challenged to show our love to one another, to our fellow brothers and sisters, reminding ourselves that God has been so kind, loving, compassionate and merciful in reaching out to us and in showing us His providence and love. He has never given up on us even whenever we have always been rebellious and disobedient in our attitudes in life and despite how many times we have refused to listen to His servants.

But often times we shut the Lord out of our lives because we were too busy and preoccupied with the many things and matters we have in life, and we were often too full of pride and arrogance to admit that we can be mistaken, imperfect or wrong in our ways, and that we ourselves are in need of help and healing. We tend to lose sight on what truly matters, as we have not allowed the Lord to be the true centre and focus of our lives. Instead, we put our own ego and ambitions, our own pride and desires, our attachments for worldly things and goods on the pedestal, and we end up turning inwards and became like how the Pharisee in the Lord’s parable had behaved. That is not the path that a Christian like us should be following.

Instead, we have to realise first of all that we are sinners in need of God’s help and healing, and through God, all of us can gain the sure passage towards eternal life and glory. We have to trust in the Lord just as we remembered what St. Paul told St. Timothy in his Epistle to him today, in our second reading passage. St. Paul encouraged St. Timothy, reminding him of all that the Lord had done to him, that despite all the challenges and the trials that he had to endure, God has always been by his side, protecting him and providing for him, encouraging him and guiding him through the difficult and hard times. He had done what he had been called to do in evangelisation and proclaiming the Good News of God to people of various nations.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we recall and internalise the message contained within the passages of the Sacred Scriptures which we heard this Sunday, all of us are reminded to focus ourselves on God and not on ourselves and our own vanity and desires. And that is part of why the Church commemorates and celebrates Mission Sunday today, reminding us all that each and every one of us as Christians, all of us are called to be missionary in our lives and attitudes, to be life-giving and to be faithful witnesses of the Lord and our Christian faith at every possible opportunities. Each and every one of us as part of the same Church of God, as part of this same one Body of Christ are expected and called to be evangelising and missionary disciples and followers of Christ.

Now, what does it mean for us to be missionary and to fulfil our missions, brothers and sisters in Christ? It does not mean that we have to go and embark on mission to far away parts of the world, preaching the Good News of the Gospels and the Christian faith. Yes, there were and are still many people who have committed their lives to be full-time missionaries, as priests and religious members of the various orders involved in the missionary works all around the world, operating the various ministries and missions that the Church has placed all around the world, but those are not the only ones who should be involved in the mission of the Church.

On the contrary, it is the responsibility and integral part of being Christians that we have to dedicate our time, effort and attention to be true and living witnesses of our Christian faith and beliefs in God, in our every day moments, in living our best to serve the Lord and to do His will, not for our own glory and fame, but for the greater glory of God. Each and every one of us who partakes in the Body of Christ and are part of this Holy Communion of all the faithful and the saints, all of us are sharing in the same mission that Our Lord Jesus Christ has entrusted to His Church and His disciples, and that is to proclaim the Good News He has revealed to the world and to go forth and baptise all the people of all the nations in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We do not have to do great and marvellous things. What matters is for us to do the best even in the smallest and simplest things we do, such that in all of those, we truly proclaim the Lord not only just by our words, but even more importantly, by our actions and deeds. If we truly embody our faith and beliefs in all of our actions, and do our best to uphold ourselves in virtue and justice, in obedience to God and righteousness, then naturally all those who see us, witness us, hear us and interact with us will come to know the Lord through us, and we may be surprised but our every actions do matter, and they can have great impact on the salvation of many souls.

And we are also reminded not to be elitist and self-righteous, as the example of the Pharisee in the parable of the Lord warned us. We must not let pride and our human greed and desire to be a serious hindrance and obstacle in our path towards God and His salvation. As long as we strive and do our best to resist those many temptations all around us, we will be able to remain faithful to the Lord, remembering as always that we are all sinners after all, all of whom the Lord had shown love, compassion and mercy on. The Lord has loved us all from the very beginning, and He does not mind even our rebellious and our stubbornness, but keep on reaching out to us. Therefore, we too should not be prejudiced against those who we may have deemed to be less than worthy than us. We should not forget that we ourselves have received great grace of God’s forgiveness, and if all even the greatest of sinners receive this love and mercy from God, why we cannot do the same as well?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore live our lives with genuine faith and dedication, and be good Christian missionaries in our every works and actions, so that we may genuinely proclaim the truth of God to the people of all the nations. We have to live our lives worthily and faithfully at all times, and be the beacons of Christ’s light in our world today. Let us all therefore dedicate ourselves anew to the Lord, and may the Lord continue to guide us and bless us in every moments, and in our every good efforts and endeavours, as this Mission Sunday ought to remind us of our calling and mission in life. May God strengthen and empower us to be ever worthy to be in His Presence, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 23 October 2022 : Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 18 : 9-14

At that time, Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down on others : “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.”

“The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give a tenth of all my income to the Temple.’ In the meantime the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’”

“I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

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Sunday, 23 October 2022 : Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Timothy 4 : 6-9, 16-18

As for me, I am already poured out as a libation, and the moment of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the just Judge, will reward me, on that day, and not only me, but all those who have longed for His glorious coming.

At my first hearing in court, no one supported me; all deserted me. May the Lord not hold it against them. But the Lord was at my side, giving me strength, to proclaim the Word fully, and let all the pagans hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will save me from all evil, bringing me to His heavenly kingdom. Glory to Him forever and ever. Amen!

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Sunday, 23 October 2022 : Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 17-18, 19 and 23

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

But His face is set against the wicked to destroy their memory from the earth. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught. But the Lord will redeem the life of His servants; none of those who trust in Him will be doomed.

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Sunday, 23 October 2022 : Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 35 : 15b-17, 20-22

Is she not crying out against the one who caused her to weep? The one who serves God wholeheartedly will be heard; his petition will reach the clouds. The prayer of the humble person pierces the clouds, and he is not consoled until he has been heard.

But the Lord will crush the backbone of the merciless and have vengeance on the nations, until He has completely destroyed the hordes of the violent and broken the power of the wicked, until He has repaid each one according to his deeds.

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Sunday, 16 October 2022 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are all reminded of the need for us to trust in the Lord, our Strength and our Hope, our Protector and Guide, our Light and our Rock in this life. God is the source of all of our strength and inspiration, and through Him we shall gain knowledge and wisdom, righteousness and justice, and we shall be triumphant together with Him in the end, if we all trust in Him and continue to put ourselves in His hands. We should not allow fear to affect us or distract us in our journey of faith in this life, and we should learn to trust more in God and in His power, to lead us to victory in the constant battle for our souls and for our fate.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Exodus the story of how the Israelites were fighting against the Amalekites during the time of their Exodus out of Egypt and journey towards the Promised Land. The Amalekites were bitter enemies of the people of Israel, and they were constantly mentioned throughout the early part of the Old Testament as enemies of the people of God. In that occasion the Amalekites went on the offensive and struck at the Israelites first at Rephidim, and therefore Moses as the leader of the Israelites told the leaders to fight back against the Amalekites, while he himself stood atop a hill holding up the staff of judgment, to show the people of God that God was with them.

As long as Moses raised his hands and staff, the Israelites were winning and drove the Amalekites back, and when he lowered his hands, the Amalekites fought back. Thus Aaron and Hur supported Moses’ hands, and in the end the Israelites triumphed greatly over the Amalekites. God was with His people that day, and through His providence, the Israelites won a great and mighty victory against their enemies. Historically, the Amalekites having lived in the region longer and been more suited to the land, would have had great advantages against the people of God, but yet they were defeated because God was not on their side.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking to the people and to His disciples using a parable regarding an evil judge who was very proud and stubborn, and yet, that same judge was coerced and persuaded to address the demands of an old woman who persistently dogged and demanded the evil judge to pursue her case and fight for her. As highlighted by the Lord, He used this example to show how if even that kind of evil and wicked person, full of ego, pride and selfishness, could be moved to act for another given enough persistence from the other party, then all the more that the Lord Who loves us very dearly will listen to us, care for us and provide for our needs.

Through these comparisons, the Lord wanted us all to know that first of all, in case we are still not aware of it yet, there are always battle and conflict raging all around us, all the time, for our souls. What is this battle all about? It is the battle and warfare constantly fought between those who seek our salvation, namely the Lord, His Angels and saints, with those who seek our downfall and destruction, namely Satan, the great enemy, also known as the devil, and his fellow numerous evil and wicker spirits, the fallen angels of God, and all those who have rebelled against the Lord, and are now looking for ways to bring about our downfall as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, against these mighty enemies and forces, we cannot face them alone on our own. We cannot win against them without the guidance and strength from God. But with God, our victory and triumph will be certain, for no matter how mighty those evil and wicked spirits might be, ultimately all of them were nothing compared to God, Who is also their Creator, Lord and Master. Without God, we will end up being easy prey for those evil spirits and demons, all of whom will then come to snatch us from the path towards salvation and grace in God. Like the Amalekites, they would have won against us if not for God and His Angels ever standing by our side protecting us.

If we stand by God, and remain faithful and true to Him, we shall be triumphant as how the Israelites beat the Amalekites and crushed their forces. But too often we carry on our battles alone and not trusting enough in God, as we prefer to do things our own way, and this more often than not led us to the path towards damnation and our downfall. By ourselves, we are nothing and without God, we can do nothing. All of our achievements and glory, our power and might all are possible in fact because we have been given the talents, abilities, opportunities and more by God.

St. Paul in his Epistle to St. Timothy, part of which is our second reading today, spoke of how we have been presented with the Scriptures, the Word of God and the Wisdom of God as passed down to us through Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit that He has promised to us, and which came down upon the Apostles and the Church at Pentecost. Through these gifts from the Lord, each and every one of us have in fact been given the means to do the will of God, to fight and resist against those who have desired to see our destruction and downfall. The Lord has always been with us and He has always provided us with what we need.

Unfortunately, the greatest issue here is that, many of us often did not have faith in God. Many of us did not have that firm trust in the Lord which led to us seeking for source of consolation and support from various alternative sources but not from the Lord Himself. We are also often too proud to admit that we are in need of help or assistance. The Lord has always reached out to us with love, and yet we often ignored Him and refused to embrace Him and His love. This is unfortunately the reason why so many people ended up remaining in the state of sin and failing to return to the Lord, all because they depended on themselves and their strength only, and did not trust in the Lord to help them.

We often do not realise that all we need is to ask, and the Lord will answer us. If only that we have more trust and faith in Him, everything will be possible for us. That is why this Sunday as we listened to these readings from the Scriptures, we are reminded to have more faith and trust in the Lord, and no longer be ignorant of the threat of the various temptations, persuasions, and all the forces of the devil and the evil spirits arrayed against us. We have to trust in the Lord to guide us in our path in life, and we have to allow Him to show us the path going forward, following Him to wherever He will lead us to. We must open our hearts and minds to listen to the Lord from now on.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore call upon the Lord with faith, calling on our beloved Lord, Master, Creator and Father to be with us, to help us and strengthen us in our journey of life, and to give us the necessary strength and perseverance to endure the various challenges in life that we may have to face especially as disciples and followers of the Lord. And let us also do our very best in our various capacities and in the different opportunities provided to us to do God’s will, to serve Him faithfully through our actions, words and deeds. All of us are reminded to be active in the living of our faith and to entrust ourselves to God’s providence and love.

May the Lord be with us always and may He empower each one of us to be able to live wholeheartedly and sincerely in His Presence, following His Law and commandments at all times. May God bless us all and may He guide us all into everlasting life, and give us the inheritance that He has promised us His faithful ones. Amen.

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Sunday, 16 October 2022 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 18 : 1-8

At that time, Jesus told His disciples a parable, to show them that they should pray continually, and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge, who neither feared God nor people. In the same town there was a widow, who kept coming to him, saying, ‘Defend my rights against my opponent!'”

“For a time he refused, but finally he thought, ‘Even though I neither fear God nor care about people, this widow bothers me so much, I will see that she gets justice; then she will stop coming and wearing me out.'”

And Jesus said, “Listen to what the evil judge says. Will God not do justice for His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, even if He delays in answering them? I tell you, He will speedily do them justice. But, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

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Sunday, 16 October 2022 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Timothy 3 : 14 – 2 Timothy 4 : 2

As for you, continue with what you have learnt, and what has been entrusted to you, knowing from whom you received it. Besides, you have known the Scriptures from childhood; they will give you the wisdom that leads to salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is inspired by God, and is useful for teaching, refuting error, for correcting and training in Christian life. Through Scripture, the man of God is made expert and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and Christ Jesus, Who is to judge the living and the dead, and by the hope I have of His coming, and His kingdom, I urge you to preach the Word, in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, or advising, always with patience, and providing instruction.